COUV. GUIDE INTERNET /RSF GB 14/09/05 9:<
^ Pag e 1
HANDBOOK FOR
BLOGGERS
AND
CYBER-DISSIDENTS
REPORTERS WITHOUT BORDERS
SEPTEMBER 2005
www.rsf.org
e
RAPPORT INTERNET 2004 GB 15/09/05 11:2
= age 1
HANDBOOK
FOR BLOGGERS
AND
CYBER-DISSIDENTS
REPORTERS WITHOUT BORDERS
SEPTEMBER 2005
RAPPORT INTERNET 2004 GB 15/09/05 11:28 Page 2
HANDBOOK
FOR BLOGGERS
AND
CYBER-DISSIDENTS
CONTENTS
ISBN : 2-915536-36-8
© 2005 Reporters Without Borders
04 BLOGGERS, THE NEW HERALDS OF FREE EXPRESSION
Julien Pain
07 WHAT'S A BLOG ?
Pointblog.com
08 THE LANGUAGE OF BLOGGING
Pointblog.com
10 CHOOSING THE BEST TOOL
Cyril Revet and Marc-Olivier Peyer
16 HOW TO SET UP AND RUN A BLOG
The Civiblog system
Citizenlab
22 WHAT ETHICS SHOULD BLOGGERS HAVE ?
Dan Gillmor
26 GETTING YOUR BLOG PICKED UP BY SEARCH-ENGINES
Olivier Andrieu
32 WHAT REALLY MAKES A BLOG SHINE ?
Mark Glaser
36 PERSONAL ACCOUNTS
37 • GERMANY: "We promote civil and human rights"
Markus Beckedahl
40 • BAHRAIN: "We've broken the government's news monopoly."
Chan'ad Bahraini
43 • USA: "Now I can write what I think"
Jay Rosen
46 • HONG KONG: "I kept my promise to those who died"
Yan Sham-Shackleton
49 • IRAN: "We can write freely in blogs"
Arash Sigarchi
52 • NEPAL: "We tell the outside world what's happening"
Radio Free Nepal
54 HOW TO BLOG ANONYMOUSLY
Ethan Zuckerman
63 TECHNICAL WAYS TO GET ROUND CENSORSHIP
Nart Villeneuve
79 ENSURING YOUR E-MAIL IS TRULY PRIVATE
Ludovic Pierrat
83 INTERNET-CENSOR WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
Julien Pain
REPORTERS WITHOUT BORDERS | 3
INTRODUCTION
BLOGGERS,
THE NEW HERALDS OF
FREE EXPRESSION
By Julien Pain
n
logs get people excited. Or else they disturb and worry them. Some people
I distrust them. Others see them as the vanguard of a new information revolution.
^^^^ One thing's for sure: they're rocking the foundations of the media in countries
as different as the United States, China and Iran.
It's too soon to really know what to think of blogs. We've been reading newspapers,
watching TV and listening to the radio for decades now and we've learned how to immediately
tell what's news and what's comment, to distinguish a tabloid "human interest" magazine
from a serious one and an entertainment programme from a documentary.
We don't have such antennae to figure out blogs. These "online diaries" are even more
varied than the mainstream media and it's hard to know which of them is a news site, which
a personal forum or one that does serious investigation or one that's presenting junk
evidence. It's difficult to separate the wheat from the chaff.
Some bloggers will gradually develop their own ethical standards, to become more credible
and win public confidence. But the Internet is still full of unreliable information and people
exchanging insults. A blog gives everyone, regardless of education or technical skill, the
chance to publish material. This means boring or disgusting blogs will spring up as fast as
good and interesting ones.
But blogging is a powerful tool of freedom of expression that has enthused millions of
ordinary people. Passive consumers of information have become energetic participants in
a new kind of journalism - what US blog pioneer Dan Gillmor calls "grassroots journalism
... by the people, for the people" (see chapter on "What ethics should bloggers have?").
Bloggers are often the only real journalists in countries where the mainstream media is censored
or under pressure. Only they provide independent news, at the risk of displeasing the
government and sometimes courting arrest. Plenty of bloggers have been hounded or
thrown in prison. One of the contributors to this handbook, Arash Sigarchi, was sentenced
to 1 4 years in jail for posting several messages online that criticised the Iranian regime. His
story illustrates how some bloggers see what they do as a duty and a necessity, not just a
hobby. They feel they are the eyes and ears of thousands of other Internet users.
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BLOGGERS, THE NEW CHAMPION OF FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION
Bloggers need to be anonymous when they are putting out information that risks their
safety. The cyber-police are watching and have become expert at tracking down "trouble-
makers." This handbook gives advice on how to post material without revealing who you
are ("How to blog anonymously," by Ethan Zuckerman). It's best of course to have the
technical skills to be anonymous online, but following a few simple rules can sometimes
do the trick. This advice is of course not for those (terrorists, racketeers or pedophiles)
who use the Internet to commit crimes. The handbook is simply to help bloggers encoun-
tering opposition because of what they write to maintain their freedom of expression.
However, the main problem for a blogger, even under a repressive regime, isn't security.
It's about getting the blog known, finding an audience. A blog without any readers won't
worry the powers-that-be, but what's the point of it? This handbook makes technical
suggestions to make sure a blog gets picked up by the major search-engines (the article by
Olivier Andrieu), and gives some more "journalistic" tips about this ("What really makes a
blog shine," by Mark Glaser).
Some bloggers face the problem of filtering. Most authoritarian regimes now have the
technical means to censor the Internet. In Cuba or Vietnam, you won't be able to access
websites that criticise the government or expose corruption or talk about human rights
abuses. So-called "illegal" and "subversive" content is automatically blocked by filters. But
all bloggers need free access to all sites and to the blogosphere or the content of their blogs
will become irrelevant.
The second part of the handbook is about ways to get round filtering ("Choosing
circumvention," by Nart Villeneuve). With a bit of common-sense, perseverance and
especially by picking the right tools, any blogger should be able to overcome censorship.
The handbook has technical advice and tips about how to set up a good blog. But a
successful one is harder to ensure. To stand out in the crowd, you must be original and post
news or opinions neglected by the mainstream media. In some countries, bloggers are
mainly worried about staying out of jail. In others, they try to establish their credibility as a
source of reliable information. Not all bloggers have the same problems, but all of them, in
their different ways, are on the frontline in the fight for freedom of expression.
Julien Pain is head of the Internet Freedom desk at Reporters Without Borders.
6 | REPORTERS WITHOUT BORDERS
DEFINITION
A BLOG?
r
By Pointblog.com
A "BLOG" (OR "WEBLOG") IS A PERSONAL WEBSITE :
• containing mostly news ("posts").
• regularly updated.
• in the form of a diary (most recent posts at the top of the page),
with most of the posts also arranged in categories.
• set up using a specially-designed interactive tool.
• usually created and run by a single person, sometimes anonymously.
A BLOG S POSTS :
• are usually text (including external links), sometimes with pictures and,
more and more often, sound and video.
• can be commented on by visitors.
• are archived on the blog and can been accessed there indefinitely.
SO A BLOG IS MUCH LIKE A "PERSONAL WEBPAGE, EXCEPT THAT IT :
• is easier to set up and maintain and so much more active
and more frequently updated.
• encourages a more open and personal style and franker viewpoints.
• greatly encourages discussion with visitors and other bloggers.
• sets a standard worldwide format for blogs, involving similar methods
(two or three-column layout, comments on posts and RSS
(Really Simple Syndication) feed.
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TERMINOLOGY
THE LANGUAGE
OF
BLOGGING
By Pointblog.com
BLOG
Short for Weblog. A website that contains
written material, links or photos being
posted all the time, usually by one indivi-
dual, on a personal basis.
(TO) BLOG
Run a blog or post material on one.
BLOGGER
Person who runs a blog.
BLOGOSPHERE
All blogs, or the blogging community.
BLOGROLL
List of external links appearing on a blog,
often links to other blogs and usually in a
column on the homepage. Often amounts
to a "sub-community" of bloggers who are
friends.
BLOGWARE
Software used to run a blog.
COMMENT SPAM
Like e-mail spam. Robot "spambots" flood
a blog with advertising in the form of bogus
comments. A serious problem that requires
bloggers and blog platforms to have tools
to exclude some users or ban some
addresses in comments.
CONTENT SYNDICATION
How a site's author or administrator makes
all or part of its content available for posting
on another website.
MOBLOG
Contraction of "mobile blog." A blog that
can be updated remotely from anywhere,
such as by phone or a digital assistant.
PERMALINK
Contraction of "permanent link." Web
address of each item posted on a blog. A
handy way of permanently bookmarking a
post, even after it has been archived by the
blog it originated from.
PHOTOBLOG
A blog mostly containing photos, posted
constantly and chronologically.
PODCASTING
Contraction of "iPod" and "broadcasting."
Posting audio and video material on a blog
and its RSS feed, for digital players.
POST
An item posted on a blog. Can be a messa-
ge or news, or just a photo or a link. Usually
a short item, including external links, that
visitors can comment on.
8 | REPORTERS WITHOUT BORDERS
THE LANGUAGE OF BLOGGING
RSS (REALLY SIMPLE SYNDICATION)
A way of handling the latest items posted
on a website, especially suited for blogs
because it alerts users whenever their
favourite blogs are updated. It can also
"syndicate" content by allowing other
websites (simply and automatically) to
reproduce all or part of a site's content.
Spreading fast, especially on media websites.
RSS AGGREGATOR
Software or online service allowing a
bloggerto read an RSS feed, especially the
latest posts on his favourite blogs. Also
called a reader, or feedreader.
WEB DIARY
A blog.
WIKI
From the Hawaiian word "wikiwiki" (quick).
A website that can be easily and quickly
updated by any visitor. The word has also
come to mean the tools used to create a
wiki (wiki engines). Blogs and wikis have
some similarities but are quite different.
RSS FEED
The file containing a blog's latest posts. It is
read by an RSS aggregator/reader and
shows at once when a blog has been updated.
TRACKBACK
A way that websites can communicate
automatically by alerting each other that an
item posted on a blog refers to a previous
item.
REPORTERS WITHOUT BORDERS | 9
USEFUL TIPS
CHOOSING THE BEST TOOL
By Cyril Fievet and Marc-Olivier Peyer, pointblog.com
n
logs owe a lot to the growth of dynamic publishing tools that greatly simplify the
I business of updating websites.
A tool for use with a blog must provide a user-friendly interface (easily accessible through
an Web navigator) and dynamically manage its content, with such things as archives and
searches.
A blog has two Internet addresses that don't change after it's been set up:
• Tits address for public access.
• Tits administrative address, protected by a password belonging to the person
who runs it.
You can set up a blog by either joining a blog community or using a blog tool with your
own server.
BLOG COMMUNITIES
(See the chapter on "How to set up and run a blog: the Civiblog system")
Setting up a blog in an existing community usually takes just a few minutes. You pick a
user-name and password and with a few clicks the blog is up and running. Some commu-
nities charge, some don't.
This method is best if you want to set up just a "view only" blog. It doesn't cost much (at
most a few euros a month) and is straightforward and quick and you benefit from the traf-
fic the community generates or from it being already well-known.
But snags include often limited options for layout and sophisticated features, as well as
community-run ads and the risk of the community closing.
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CHOOSING THE BEST TOOL
USING BLOG TOOLS
These are programmes that are installed on a server, using scripts to run the site
automatically and a database to store posted material. Once installed, it operates
through a standard online navigator. No special expertise, such as using HTML, is needed
to set up and run a blog, but installing and configuring it is sometimes tricky (setting access
criteria, creating a database and arranging FTP loading).
This solution is for people already familiar with blogs and has the advantage that it entire-
ly belongs to you and you can therefore adapt, configure and alter it whenever you want.
But it does requite some technical skill, is also more exposed (to spam comments) and
you have to store the contents yourself.
HOW TO CHOOSE A BLOG COMMUNITY ?
It's not always easy to move from one blog community to another, so it's important to
make a good choice in the first place.
Before choosing one, consider these points:
OTHER BLOGS IN A COMMUNITY
Some communities group Internet users according to interests or age. Have a look
at several dozen other blogs in a community to see if it has a "typical" group.
WHAT THE BLOG LOOKS LIKE
Though the choice is often small, communities (platforms) usually have a fair
range of colours, fonts and home-page layouts to choose from. You can get a
good idea of the possibilities there too by looking at some of the community's
sites at random. Many free-of-charge communities require all blogs to carry ads
on all pages. Also check options for the blog's address, which could be
http://myblog.thecommunity.com, http://www.thecommunity.com/myblog or
http://www.thecommunity.com/mynumber.
FEATURES ON OFFER
Check these to see if you'll be able to redesign the blog, bring in other
contributors, post images or sound, post things by phone or restrict access
(totally or partially) to registered users. Also find out if posted material can be
easily forwarded to another community and if you can insert paid ads to make money.
HIDDEN COSTS
Some communities are free but have to be paid for after a certain point,
especially according to the amount of data stored and the bandwidth used.
Check this beforehand.
12 | REPORTERS WITHOUT BORDERS
CHOOSING THE BEST TOOL
INTERNATIONAL PLATFORMS
Blogger - http://www.blogger.com
Free.
Set up in 1 999, bought by Google in 2003 and the biggest one of all, with eight
million blogs. Easy to use but features rather limited.
Livejournal - http://www.livejournal.com
Free or paid (about $2 a month).
One of the oldest platforms, with six million blogs, mostly young people.
MSN Spaces - http://www.msnspaces.com
Free.
Microsoft platform, set up in late 2004. Lots of features, some beyond the blog
(photo-sharing, Messenger link). Must be aged at least 1 3 to register a blog.
FRENCH-LANGUAGE PLATFORMS
20six - http://www.20six.fr
Free or paid (€3-7 a month).
Lots of features, some quite sophisticated and including basic version.
Over-Blog- http://www.over-blog.com
Free.
Well-designed and easy to use.
Skyblog - http://www.skyblog.com
Free (with ads).
The biggest platform in France, very popular with young people, though features
sometimes limited.
TypePad - http://www.typepad.com/sitefr
Paid (€5-1 5 a month, according to number of features).
Very professional with good range of features.
A free version can be had through blog communities set up by third-parties, such
as Noos (http://www.noosblog.fr) or Neuf Telecom (http://www.neufblog.com).
ViaBloga - http://viabloga.com
Free for non-profit associations, or €5 a month.
Original and dynamic, with some unusual features.
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CHOOSING THE BEST TOOL
MAJOR BLOG TOOLS
DotClear - http://www.dotclear.net
MovableType - http://www.movabletype.org
Wordpress - http://www.wordpress.org
pointblog.com aims to highlight the meaning and extent of this key modern Internet revolution.
The site is for beginners, experienced users or just visitors and consists of a blog and several inde-
pendent sections. It is run by the firm Pointblog SARL, co-founded and headed by Christophe Ginisty
and Cyril Revet.
14 | REPORTERS WITHOUT BORDERS
GETTING GOING AND KEEPING UP TO DATE
HOW
TO SET UP AND RUN
ABLOG
The Civiblog system (www.civiblog.org)
1 m 1 blog is much easier to maintain and update than a normal website. Blog
I platforms (or servers) have slightly different posting methods, but the principles
^^^^ are the same. This article aims to help users of Civiblog, a platform used by
members of civil society everywhere, but the advice applies to all such servers. Civiblog
uses the Blogware platform that the firm Tucows has provided free of charge.
First let's look at some of the things that've made blogging so popular.
An important technical key to the "blogosphere" is RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feeds.
An RSS item is an XML (extensible Markup Language) file automatically generated by a
blog and that another website or blog can link to. When you "syndicate" an RSS feed, it
puts the headings of the posts on the blog into your news reader (in mail programmes
such as Outlook or Thunderbird) or directly onto your website or personal blog. When a
blog is updated, the RSS feed is too, so information spreads very quickly and automatically.
Bloggers have to master this technology to efficiently pass on material.
The other technical key to blogging is "trackbacks," which show the origin of blog material
and are used by most platforms.
When a posted item is based on or taken from another blog, a trackback can be added to
it to automatically notify and enable the site in question to list all the sites that have
reproduced or commented on its posts. This sounds complicated but it's really very simple
and rewarding, as it's always nice to know that someone has mentioned your own material.
It's also very useful for getting material more widely known and generating discussion
between blogs.
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HOW TO SET UP AND RUN A BLOG
So take the time to get familiar with this technology when you set up your own blog.
THE CIVIBLOG HOMEPAGE
4 -F™— -
The RSS feed is on the right and is automatically updated whenever a community mem-
ber-site posts a new message.
SIGNING UP
You have to register before you set up
a blog. Most blog platforms make it
very simple. Civiblog requires just
basic details, but has to check that the
blogs it hosts are genuine civil society
groups and not just personal blogs for family or friends. It takes about 24 hours from sign-up
for a blog to appear online. Access codes needed to launch the blog are e-mailed to the
blogger.
18 | REPORTERS WITHOUT BORDERS
ADMINISTRATION LOG-IN
A blog has a "front end" (the page where
visitors go) and a "back end," from where
it's updated, monitored and run and which
is accessed with the user-name and pass-
word you get when you sign up.
DASHBOARD
Most blogs have a "dashboard," where you
can see at a glance everything happening
on the blog, including the latest posts,
comments and trackbacks. You can access
all the blog's features from here and chan-
ge how it looks, increase bandwidth, edit
old posts and manage your users and their
permissions, such as their right to post
comments.
HOW TO POST
One of the big differences between a blog
and a normal webpage is that it's easier to
update a blog. Most platforms allow you to
type posts in plain text without bothering
about layout. With newer ones such as
Civiblog, you can change fonts, sizes and
colours and insert links and pictures.
You post something by:
1. Logging in.
2. Clicking on "post."
3. Giving your post a name and typing
the content in.
4. Formatting the text by using the interface.
HOW TO SET UP AND RUN A BLOG
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HOW TO SET UP AND RUN A BLOG
5. Giving the post a category (so it can be grouped with similar ones) or creating
a new category.
6. Clicking on "save" at the bottom of the page.
That's all. With a bit of experience, you can start using other features such as trackbacks,
pings and keywords.
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TRACKBACKS
It's easy to add a trackback to your post.
You just add the permanent URL of the site
you're referencing in the right-hand box
marked "trackback URLs to notify" and the
trackback will automatically be sent to the
site when you save the post.
RSS SYNDICATION
Syndicating the RSS feed of another web-
site or blog is also very easy:
1 . Log n to the "back end" of the blog.
2. Click on "favourites."
3. Click on "RSS Headline Components."
4. Follow the instructions and insert the
URL (ending in .xml, .rdf or sometimes
.py or .php) of the RSS feed you want to
syndicate.
5. Give the feed a name and click on
"add feed."
6. Now the feed is created, insert it into
the blog's layout.
7. Click on "look and feel."
8. Click on "layout."
9. Click on "RSS: your feed" ("your feed"
being the name you gave it in step 5)
and drag the feed over to the column
where you want it to appear.
1 0. Click on "save" at the bottom of the
page and that's it.
20 | REPORTERS WITHOUT BORDERS
HOW TO SET UP AND RUN A BLOG
Some of the many sites that explain the intricacies of blogging :
Civiblog Central Resources Blog:
http://central.civiblog.org/blog/BloggingResources
How to blog:
http://blogging.typepad.com/how_to_blog
The blogosphere:
http://blog.lib.umn.edu/blogosphere
The Weblog Workshop:
http://cyber.law.harvard.edu:8080/globalvoices/wiki/index.php/WeblogWorkshop
Blogging 1 01 :
http://www.unc.edu/%7Ezuiker/blogging1 01 /index.html
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The people were hungry in the streets and the police were after them
ONLINE PRINCIPLES
WHAT ETHICS
SHOULD BLOGGERS HAVE?
By Dan Gillmor
ot all bloggers do journalism. Most do not. But when they do, they should
be ethical.
Does this mean they must subscribe to some kind of ethical code? Not necessarily.
The professional journalism world is awash in ethics codes. Some are longer than the
United States Constitution, trying to anticipate every possible breach. Others are short and
succinct, offering more positive guidance. The cyber-journalist Website has adapted for
bloggers an ethics code (http://www.cyberjournalist.net/news/000215.php) from the
Society of Professional Journalists, an American group. It is a solid and worthy effort.
All ethics codes are created for one essential purpose: to instill trust. If a reader (or viewer
or listener) cannot trust the report, there is usually little reason to bother in the first place.
The exception, of course, is looking at material that is known to be unethical, as much for
instructional purposes - we can learn a great deal from watching unethical people's
behavior - as to gain true knowledge.
For me, ethics is about something quite simple: honor. Within that word, however, is a
great deal of territory. But unless we act with honor we cannot expect people's trust.
In American journalism, trust is often associated with a standard we call "objectivity" - the
idea that an article should offer balance and nuance, giving the reader the chance to make
up his or her own mind. I believe objectivity is a worthy but unattainable goal, because we
all bring our own biases to everything we do.
In a world of new journalism, where we shift from a lecture to much more of a conversation,
ethical journalism depends less on codes of ethics than the values and principles that are
a foundation for honorable journalism.
There are pillars of good journalism: thoroughness, accuracy, fairness, transparency and
independence.
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WHAT ETHICS SHOULD BLOGGERS HAVE?
The lines separating them are not always clear. They are open to wide interpretation, and
are therefore loaded with nuance in themselves. But I think they are a useful way to
approach ethical journalism, and they are notably easier to achieve in an online setting.
Let's look at each.
THOROUGHNESS
When I was a reporter and, later, a columnist, my first goal was to learn as much as I could.
After all, gathering facts and opinions is the foundation of reporting. I liked it best when
I felt I had left 95 percent of what I'd learned out of the final piece. The best reporters
I know always want to make one more call, check with one more source. (The last question
I ask at all interviews is, "Who else should I talk with about this?"
Today, thoroughness means more than asking questions of the people in our address
books, real or virtual. It means, whenever possible, asking our readers for their input, as
I did when I wrote a book on grassroots journalism in 2004 (and as other authors are
beginning to do in theirs). Competitive pressures tend to make this a rare request, but I'm
convinced that more journalists will adopt it.
ACCURACY
Be factual.
Say what you don't know, not just what you do. (If the reader/1 istener/viewer does know
what you don't, you've just invited him/her to fill you in.)
Accuracy means correcting what you get wrong, and doing it promptly. This is much easier
online, where we can mitigate or at least limit the damage from our errors for new readers.
FAIRNESS
This one is as difficult, in practice, as accuracy is simple. Fairness is often in the eye of the
beholder. But even here I think a few principles may universally apply.
Fairness means, among other things, listening to different viewpoints, and incorporating
them into the journalism. It does not mean parroting lies or distortions to achieve that lazy
equivalence that leads some journalists to get opposing quotes when the facts overwhelm-
ingly support one side.
Fairness is also about letting people respond when they believe you are wrong, even if you
do not agree. Again, this is much easier online than in a print publication, much less a
broadcast.
Ultimately, fairness emerges from a state of mind. We should be aware of what drives us,
and always be willing to listen to those who disagree. The first rule of having a conversation
is to listen - and I know I learn more from people who think I'm wrong than from those
who agree with me.
24 | REPORTERS WITHOUT BORDERS
WHAT ETHICS SHOULD BLOGGERS HAVE?
TRANSPARENCY
Disclosure is gaining currency as an addition to journalism. It's easier said than done, of
course.
No one can plausibly argue with the idea that journalists need to disclose certain things,
such as financial conflicts of interest. But to what extent? Should journalists of all kinds be
expected to make their lives open books? How open?
Personal biases, even unconscious ones, affect the journalism as well. I'm an American,
brought up in with certain beliefs that many folks in other lands (and some in the United
States) flatly reject. I need to be aware of the things I take for granted, and periodically
challenge some of them, as I do my work.
Another way to be transparent is how we present a story. We should link to source material
as much as possible, bolstering what we tell people with close-to-the-ground facts and
data. (Maybe this is part of accuracy or thoroughness, but it seems to fit here, too.)
INDEPENDENCE
Honorable journalism means following the story where it leads. When media are consolidated
into a few big companies or are under the thumb of governments, this cannot happen.
It is simple to be independent online. Just start a blog. But no one should imagine that the
same pressures from businesses and governments will not apply when a blogger tries to
make a living at his or her new trade.
Jeff Jarvis, a prominent American blogger (buzzmachine.com), adds several other ideals.
Bloggers must value the ethic of the conversation. He notes what for me is a bottom line
of this new world: that conversation leads to understanding.
In a conversation, the first rule is to listen. Ethics requires listening, because it is how we
learn.
Dan Gillmor is founder of Grassroots
Media Inc., a company aimed at enabling
grassroots journalism and expanding its
reach. Its first site is Bayosphere.com in
the San Francisco Bay Area. He is author
of "We the Media:
Grassroots Journalism by the People, for
the People" (O'Reilly Media, 2004).
His blog:
http://bayosphere.com/blog/dangillmor
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USEFUL TIPS
GETTING YOUR BLOG
PICKED UP
BY SEARCH-ENGINES
By Olivier Andrieu
PI
logs are websites themselves, so they're picked up by search-engines like
I Google, Yahoo! Search or MSN Search. To be successful, a blog has to get good
^^^^ visibility on their results pages through major keywords. So a site has to be
designed from the start to react to the mechanical classification criteria these engines use.
Blogs have several built-in characteristics that get them often picked up by search-engines,
well-listed and placed in a prominent position on results pages.
• Because they are personal diaries (at least at the beginning), they usually have a lot of
text which helps them get picked up. Search-engines don't pick up sites with a lot of
graphics or Flash animations but not much text.
• Each "post" usually occupies a single page, accessible through a "permalink" and dea-
ling with a single subject, and is much more often picked up by search-engines than long
pages about many different topics (such as archives or a blog homepage).
• The heading of a post is usually reproduced in the page heading or the URL (address).
For example, on the Radio Free Nepal blog, at http://freenepal.blogspot.com, each post
is on a page of its own, such as http://freenepal.blogspot.com/2005/04/state-vanda-
lism-in-nepal.html:
26 | REPORTERS WITHOUT BORDERS
GETTING YOUR BLOG PICKED UP BY SEARCH ENGINES
The heading of the post (State Vandalism in Nepal) occurs not just in the page URL but
also in the heading of the document, as follows :
3 FlDrto rr*# flfcpjl: Stxia Y*ri*Jhbin in NtpaJ - NUcrmh nc*rni* EJ P fer«r
So the post heading has been added after the blog's name, which appears alone on the
blog's homepage (http://freenepal.blogspot.com).
The presence of descriptive keywords in the page headings
(the content of the <TITLE> tag in HTML language) and in the
URLs of these documents are key criteria for search-engines,
so it's very important to choose post headings carefully to
ensure they get picked up.
• Links are automatically created, especially to archives, and
are text (see examples on the right of the Radio Free Nepal
pages).
State Vandalism in Nepal
■
Must-Read Stories; April 20
Municipal Election; For
Covering Up the Death of
Democracy
Articles of Interest: April 16
Attempts to Blur Borderline?
Articles of Interest: April 7
Press: Support King or Die
This is very good for getting picked up because the text
content of the links (called "anchors") is key to the relevance
of pages the links point to from the search-engines. So in the
example here, the presence of the words "State Vandalism in
Nepal" in the first link or "Radio Free Nepal" in the 9th boosts the relevance of the page
indicated by the link for these terms. Also, the page with these links (the clickable text is
detected as important by search-engines) and the page indicated by them will be
considered relevant.
HOW TO GET A BLOG PICKED UP MORE
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GETTING YOUR BLOG PICKED UP BY SEARCH ENGINES
Blogs have many inbuilt advantages to get them picked up frequently. Once a search-engine
has "found" the blog, either by it being submitted manually or by search-engine "spiders"
following links, a blog will have much more chance than a standard website of being
displayed prominently because of its natural advantages. But you should try to increase
this visibility by going a bit further.
Here are some tips on how to do this, using major keywords drawn from the topic of your blog.
1. Focus on technology that helps getting picked up
If your site isn't yet online, be careful what technology (such as Blogger, Dotclear,
BlogSpirit, Joueb and many others) you use to put it there. Choose the one that includes
the maximum details for getting picked up:
• The heading of the post must be fully reproduced in the page heading (the <TITLE> tag)
as well as in its URL (which isn't always done, since in the address some tools truncate the
post heading after a certain number of characters).
• Creation of "permalinks" (links to a page containing a single post) must be possible.
• The technology chosen must allow you to do as much as possible in the design and
personalisation of your site, such as using your own graphics and personal style-sheets.
You must learn how to do as many technical things as possible so you can use the maxi-
mum number of factors to help the site get picked up.
To check all these points, have a look at sites using the technology you're considering (you
can always find a big enough sample there) and see how they're displayed. You'll learn
quite a lot this way.
2. Choose the best headings for your posts
This is very important. The heading of your post will be reproduced in the heading of the
single pages displaying your posts, in their URLs and in the text of links that point to them
- three key places for search-engines. So the post headings must contain, in a few words,
the most important terms, to allow them to be picked up. Avoid headings such as "Well
said!" "Welcome!" or "Great!" The heading should describe or sum up in less than five
words what can be found in the post that follows. Think of the words you'd like a search-
engine to pick up from it and put them in the heading. Not so easy, perhaps, but very
effective.
3. Provide the text
Search-engines love text, so provide it for them. You can post all the photos you want as long
as they go with text. Try to make each post at least 200 words long so it'll have a good chan-
ce of being easily spotted by search-engines. Also avoid having several very different topics
in the same post, as search-engines don't like that. The golden rule is one topic, one post.
4. Pay attention to the first paragraph of your posts
28 | REPORTERS WITHOUT BORDERS
GETTING YOUR BLOG PICKED UP BY SEARCH ENGINES
The position of important words in the text is also crucial. Take great care with your first
paragraph. If you want to be picked up with the words "release hostages," for example,
put them among the first 50 in the post. The same goes for all the keywords you choose.
A page with them at the beginning always gets better search-engine results than if they're
at the end (all other things being equal). Stress these words, by putting them in bold for
example. This signals to the search-engine that they're important.
5. Avoid duplicate content in a post
All search-engines have ways to detect duplicate content and if two pages are over-similar,
only one of them will be spotted and the other rarely displayed on a results page. Google,
for example, displays this message:
(( In order to show you the most relevant results, we have omitted some entries very similar
to those already displayed. If you like, you can repeat the search with the omitted results
included. ))
This often happens with blogs, as the pages containing each post can appear very similar.
For example, if you have an identical introduction on each page, either put it at the bottom
or just on the home page, so as to make all your pages very different from each other.
6. Don't give your blog a title that's too long.
The best title (the content of the tag <TITLE>) for search-engines is between 5 and 1
words long, not counting "stop words" such as "the" or "and." The page heading of a blog
usually has two parts:
• The general title of the blog
• A repeat of the heading of the post.
So as not to exceed 1 words in the general heading of pages presenting each post, you
should use no more than five words for the general title of the blog and five for the hea-
ding of the post. That's not very much, but being concise as well as informative is one of
the keys to getting picked up easily by search-engines.
If you can (not all technologies allow you to do it), put the heading of the post at the top
and the general title of the blog afterwards, rather than the other way round.
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GETTING YOUR BLOG PICKED UP BY SEARCH ENGINES
7. Syndicate your blog
Most blog tools allow you to create an "XML thread" or "RSS feed" with which users can
pick up your posts in suitable software format. You can offer this facility on your blog (it
only takes a few minutes to install). You'll not only get more visitors but on Yahoo!, it'll be
indicated prominently as shown: (( View as XML )).
So make use of this.
8. Keep your links updated
Links are very important for search-engines because they allow them to compile a popu-
larity rating (called PageRank by Google) of webpages. So build up the number of links to
your blog by:
• Inserting it in directories (see below).
• Looking for "cousin sites" that aren't rivals but offer material on the same topic.
Exchanging links between blogs in the same area of interest should be sought as quickly
as possible (this is quite frequently done and approved of in the blogging community,
which is another advantage of blogs). Blogs are also well-suited for this, as the margin is
often empty and they can be posted there.
FEATURING IN TOPIC DIRECTORIES
Featuring in general-interest search-engines (such as Google, MSN, Yahoo! and Exalead)
and directories (such as Yahoo! Directory and Open Directory) is very important but
getting featured by topic is too because it:
• generates more focused visitors.
• increases the number of links to your blog, which is good for your popularity.
• gets you known by other blog publishers who might want to exchange links
with similar sites.
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GETTING YOUR BLOG PICKED UP BY SEARCH ENGINES
Among the many search tools (search-engines and directories) that pick up blogs, are:
English-language
French-language
Blogwise :
Daypop :
Feedster :
Technorati :
Waypath :
Blogarama :
Syndic8 :
Blogonautes
Blogolist
Weblogues
Blogarea
Pointblog
Les Pages Joueb
http://www.
http://www.
http://wWW.
http://wWW.
http://wWW.
http://wWW.
http://wWW.
blogwise.com/
daypop.com/
feedster.com/
technorati.com/
waypath.com/
blogarama.com/
syndic8.com/
http://www.blogonautes.com/
http://www.blogolist.com/
http://www.weblogues.com/
http://www.blogarea.net/Links/
http://www.pointblog.com/
http :/ / pages.joueb.com/
A bigger list is at :
http://search-engines.blogs.com/mon_weblog/2005/05/les_search-engines_de_.html
Also have a look at the directories of each technology provider, such as :
http://www.canalblog.com/cf/browseBlogs.cfm
http://www.dotclear.net/users.html
http://www.blogspirit.com/fr/communautes_blogspirit.html
CONCLUSION
A blog has all the elements for getting easily picked up by search-engines. With the tips
given here, you should get very good results and increase your blog's visibility. So off you
go - and remember that "content is king."
Olivier Andrieu is a freelance Internet consultant specialising in getting sites picked up by search-engines.
He also runs the website www.abondance.com.
REPORTERS WITHOUT BORDERS | 31
HOW TO STAND OUT
WHAT REALLY MAKES
A BLOG SHINE
By Mark Glaser
Dn the billions and billions of words posted by the millions of blogs worldwide,
what makes one particular blog stand out from the teeming mass? What puts
the blog writer into a special class, makes readers return day after day and
brings accolades from the media?
It's connection. Successful bloggers are those who connect with their readers, whether 1
or 1 0,000 people, by entertaining or enlightening them. Many people like to draw boun-
daries between bloggers and other writers (journalists, novelists, marketers) but their goals
are similar: grab people by the collar and don't let go.
Some of the bloggers writing in this handbook - Bahrain's Chan'ad Bahraini, Hong Kong's
Yan Sham-Shackleton and Iran's Arash Sigarchi - blog in countries where the government
is watching their words very carefully. And the world is watching them as well, to learn
about stories the press in their countries dare not tell. In these places, freedom of speech
and freedom of the press are in danger, and bloggers' voices online are an important link
to the reality on the streets of their towns. The photos they take and the stories they tell
are vital.
But what makes these and other noteworthy blogs shine? Here are some of their main
attributes, the things that set them apart from all those millions of other blogs.
A UNIQUE AND PERSONAL VOICE
The best bloggers talk in their own voice, celebrate their unique identity and tell the
stories that are real to them. Weblogs come from the idea of an online journal, a personal
journal, so it's important to remember that journaling is not like academic writing, not like
impersonal writing for a wire service. Chan'ad Bahraini is the pseudonym of an Asian blogger
located in the mainly Arab country of Bahrain, giving him an unusual perspective on
events there. Yan Sham-Shackleton is a performance artist who has lived all over the world
and helped run a protest against China blocking the TypePad blog sites - after several
years earlier herself helping the Chinese authorities to filter the Net.
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WHAT REALLY MAKES A BLOG SHINE
KEEP IT CURRENT
The biggest problem with the vast majority of blogs is that they are stale. Because most
people are not paid to blog, it takes a while to integrate blogging into their daily routine.
Many people start to blog, try it out, and then never have the time to update it. To be suc-
cessful, bloggers must keep writing posts on a regular basis and stay up on the topics that
interest them, including current affairs. That doesn't mean they have to post 1 2 times
every day, but a few weeks off can kill a blog's audience.
CONNECT WITH AND EMPOWER READERS
One of the distinguishing features of blogs is interactivity. There are many ways to engage
your readers, involve them in the conversation and utilize their feedback. You could run
an online poll, or give them your e-mail address, or just enable comments under each pos-
ting. Jeff Ooi was threatened by the Malaysian authorities because of a comment made by
one of his readers. Rather than take all comments off his blog, Ooi decided to moderate
comments to make sure readers stayed on topic and would stand by their words. He also
started up a Chinese-language blog called "The Ferryman" as a way to build a bridge bet-
ween the Malaysian and Chinese blogospheres.
+ ■
a ■
■
■ i
34 | REPORTERS WITHOUT BORDERS
WHAT REALLY MAKES A BLOG SHINE
■
-
■
' TELL TRUTH TO POWER
1 While many blogs include commentary, some also include original old-fashioned reporting.
There's no right way to do it, but having either original reporting or an original angle on a
story helps set your blog apart. Chan'ad Bahraini offered photos and audio of protests in
Bahrain when an activist was jailed in November 2004. And blogger Arash Sigarchi was
arrested in Iran and sentenced to 14 years in prison for criticizing the hard-line regime's
arrests of other journalists. He was later freed after paying a fine, but his case is under
appeal. The key is that these bloggers and so many others have spoken truth to power,
and had the courage to stand up as a collective blogosphere to authorities that would
rather hide the truth.
Mark Glaser is a columnist for Online
Journalism Review (www.ojr.org), a publication
produced by the University of Southern
California's Annenberg School of
Communication. He is a freelance writer based
in San Francisco. You can reach him at
glaze@sprintmail.com
REPORTERS WITHOUT BORDERS | 35
PERSONAL ACCOUNT
GERMANY
WE PROMOTE CIVIL AND HUMAN RIGHTS"
By Markus Beckedahl
Netzpolitik.org
1 m 1 t the end of the 1 990s, when I was 20, 1 became an activist and lobbyist for a
I free and open information society. With some friends, I founded the digital
^^^^ rights NGO "network new media." For five years we have been promoting civil
and human rights in the digital sphere. We organise conferences and are engaged in a
range of campaigns and NGO networks. For example, we coordinate the "German Civil
Society Coordination Group to the WSIS" and devote a lot of energy to preparation for the
World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS).
In the first years of my political engagement I was primarily using mailing lists in networks.
I sent out some 5,000 news articles and announcements about netpolitics. But these lists
were reaching a small and static number of users. Blogs, on the other hand, are open and
transparent and offer many more opportunities to share my knowledge and report about
my work.
My first blog started in 2002 in the first phase of the WSIS. I came to the UN PrepCom in
Geneva equipped only with my sleeping bag and a notebook. I needed an infrastructure
to report quickly without having to use HTML. In the past, it often took me too much time
to publish news with the overhead of HTML. I wrote about my impressions doing politics
at UN-level in a blog called "Backpacking to world politics". That was my first blog.
I started my most recent blog, netzpolitik.org, in spring 2004. 1 tried a range of applications
before settling on Wordpress, a free software with a huge community behind it. Weblogs
offer me fast and convenient content generating, editing and publishing. Most important
for me is an interface allowing focus on the essential work - writing text instead of wasting
time on HTML markup. I want easy-to-use interfaces to gather and compile information,
write it up and then click one button to publish. All of this greatly simplifies my work. Also
appealing is the combined "push-pull" technology. Most of my readers subscribe to the
RSS feed and follow my articles in feed readers. Others find me using web browsers or
search-engines.
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PERSONAL ACCOUNT / GERMANY
Being part of several political communities, I try to collect and deliver all news of importance
in netzpolitik.org: About Civil and Human Rights, the Open Source World, Free and Open
Access to Knowledge, an inclusive information society and balance in the field of copyright.
Free speech and freedom of expression are crucially influenced by copyright law and digital
rights management. But few people understand these are important issues, so I'm raising
awareness to help citizens defend their rights. Civil rights are in danger worldwide, including
Germany. Greater security measures go along with more and more surveillance, but so far
the public is hardly aware that this implies a loss of freedom.
Free software (such as the operating system Linux) offers a great potential to convey and
incorporate freedom of expression, pluralism and sustainability in the digital age. Of course
all my computers run on Linux. I also write about new developments in free software and
about their political dimension and explain how first-time users can use these systems.
I closely follow the growth of the online encyclopedia Wikipedia, as well as creative
commons (CC) licences. My content is offered under a CC licence and I actively encourage
copying and circulating my work for non-commercial purposes, when quoted as source.
Another important issue is how the Internet can be used productively by civil society orga-
nisations and campaigns. I used to work as a project leader and consultant for political
communication on the Internet and eCampaigning and eDemocracy have an extra category
in the blog. I analyse free tools for collaboration and activism and focus on the various
aspects of social software, how to collectively and socially generate knowledge with wider
coverage.
In netzpolitik.org, I also collect information and data about forthcoming conferences,
lectures, and meetings about the information society. I report from conferences and give
my views on them. Each day there is a news review with lots of hyperlinks and I comment
on the development of new laws and point out NGO activity in these areas. My blog conti-
nuously develops into a node within German-speaking civil society and networks, providing
material to large numbers of social multipliers. I also ask blogging friends to write about
key issues as well as spreading the news faster. I use my RSS news reader to compile
topics for the review very quickly. In the first 1 months, I managed to publish more than
800 articles just with a little help from friends.
38 | REPORTERS WITHOUT BORDERS
PERSONAL ACCOUNT / GERMANY
V M
To my surprise, an average 2,500 people read my blog every day. I get nice feedback
especially from younger people who I encourage to start their own blog.
Fortunately Germany has laws to protect freedom of speech. No-one will send me to pri-
son for criticising the government. I admire the courage of people who live under dictator-
ships and risk their lives updating their blogs.
blogs.
Markus Beckedahl, 28, runs is executive-manager of "newthinking communications," an agency for
open source technologies and strategies, and co-founder and chairman of the German digital rights
NGO Netzwerk Neue Medien. His blog is: www. netzpolitik.org
REPORTERS WITHOUT BORDERS | 39
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PERSONAL ACCOUNT
BAHRAIN
"WE'VE BROKEN THE GOVERNMENT'S NEWS MONOPOLY"
By Chan'ad Bahraini
Dset up my blog for two main reasons: (i) it's fun to write without any formal
restrictions, deadlines, or requirements, and (ii) to try to contribute to and
encourage the discussion of topics in Bahrain that rarely get proper treatment
in the local mainstream media.
Currently, Bahrain's only TV and radio stations are run directly by the government, so
there is no reporting or discussion of issues that are even distantly related to the local poli-
tical situation. All of the local newspapers are privately-owned, so they enjoy relatively
more freedom than the broadcast media. Yet even in the written press, the situation is not
much better because editors do not dare to openly criticize certain influential individuals,
such as members of the government, or the royal family (particularly the king and his
uncle the prime minister).
The Internet however provides a means for individuals to freely express their opinions in
public, without facing the scrutiny of the government. Although the Bahraini government
does have a history of monitoring and blocking political websites, it seems to have become
more relaxed in the past one or two years, though the situation has deteriorated recently.
Moreover, the ease with which someone can set up a website and write anonymously (like
myself) makes it difficult for the government to take any action against the writers.
So for these reasons I felt there was a real need to have free and frank discussions on all
issues (including politics) somewhere - especially as the country attempts to make a tran-
sition to democracy - and the Internet was the obvious choice for where I could share and
discuss my opinions. I was encouraged to see that Mahmood (www.mahmood.tv), the
pioneer of Bahraini bloggers, had been blogging for about a year prior to my start, without
any issues with the government.
One of the main aims of my blog has been to discuss and analyze events in Bahrain. But
because of the limited amount of first-hand information available, I've been trying to do
some pseudo-journalism myself. This means that whenever possible I try to personally
attend events (especially protest demonstrations) and then write about them on my blog
and provide photographs.
40 | REPORTERS WITHOUT BORDERS
PERSONAL ACCOUNT / BAHRAIN
There are now several bloggers in Bahrain and the effect of this has been quite positive.
A space has been created where a wide range of topics are discussed with honesty. I have
certainly learned a great deal of information from the other Bahraini blogs that I would
never have been able to learn anywhere else. And this community is not only online, as
many of the Bahrain bloggers meet up once a month to discuss in person the various
issues that we blog about.
However, most of the online activity in Bahrain takes place at the many Arabic-language
online discussion forums that have been around for much longer (e.g. bahrainonline.org).
Blogging has not yet caught on as a mainstream phenomenon in Bahrain, however our
sites are more and more assuming the role of "bridge blogs"" (as defined by Hossein
Derakshan: http://hoder.com/weblog/archives/013982.shtml). Because most bloggers
in Bahrain write in English, we are able to communicate (in both directions) with people
around the world, so they look to us as a source of information about what is "really"
happening in Bahrain.
Chan'ad Bahraini
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REPORTERS WITHOUT BORDERS | 41
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PERSONAL ACCOUNT / BAHRAIN
So for example, when the three moderators of Bahrainonline.org were arrested in
February 2005, we wrote about it on our blogs so the news of this spread around the
world even faster than it did within Bahrain. Reporters Without Borders had issued a
statement about the case within a day of the arrests. I believe that all the international
attention that was generated probably played some role in the government's eventual
decision to release the three a couple weeks later. More generally, our blogs have broken
the monopoly of the government in communicating news about Bahrain to the outside
world.
Generally, bloggers in Bahrain have not faced any repercussions from the government
regarding what we write, but this has been changing since the start of this year. As noted,
three moderators of an online discussion forum were arrested in February for messages
posted that supposedly "incited hatred towards the government". One of the moderators,
Ali Abdulemam, also maintained his own blog. Also, in April, the government announced
it would now oblige all website owners to register with the ministry of information or face
legal action. This shows the government still does not fully understand the Internet (and
blogs) and does not know how to handle the situation when it feels threatened by online
writers.
Originally from southeast Asia, Chan'ad Bahraini is now living in Bahrain, where he has set up his blog
http://chanad.weblogs.us. He chooses to remain anonymous.
42 | REPORTERS WITHOUT BORDERS
PERSONAL ACCOUNT
USA
NOW I CAN WRITE WHAT I THINK"
By Jay Rosen
Press Think
III hen I started asking around about how to do a weblog, I got many kinds of
I answers. The one piece of advice everyone gave was: you must write in short
^^^^^ posts. That's the style, some said. That's what works, said others. And, most
suspicious of all, that's what busy, Web-cruising readers expect. They don't have time for
your long and thoughtful analysis, I was told. By everyone.
This made me suspicious. I didn't set out to write long, 2000-word posts; but that is what
happened as I tried to turn my ideas into posts that said something others weren't saying,
and got some notice. (And I can do short, when I want to). I set out to be unrestricted: free
to figure out for myself what works, what PressThink wants to be.
"People don't have time for..." reasoning was meaningless to me, and I didn't trust it. That
kind of advice would restrict my freedom to write what I think, but the whole purpose in
starting PressThink was liberation: "Wow, now I have my own magazine. Now I can write
what I think." My interest was users who did have time for depth, in whatever number they
may prove to exist, ocean to ocean, post to post.
My approach was: this is my magazine, PressThink... If you like it, return. In a tiny and
abstract way, perhaps, my blog is part of the media marketplace, competing for eyeballs
with game shows, football, and re-runs of Law and Order. But not really. PressThink, a free
citizen in a voluntary nation, doesn't have to behave like a market actor. Thus my experiment
in long form blogging.
One has to remember that the Web is good for many opposite things. For quick hitting
information. For clicking across a field. For talk and interaction. It's also a depth finder, a
memory device, an instant library, a filter. Not to use a weblog for extended analysis
because most users won't pick that option is Web dumb, but media smart. But I am not
the media! What's strange is that I try to write short, snappy things, but they always turn
into long ones. A certain number of readers show up to complain about it ("too many
words spent on the wrong subject!" would be typical) and that gets amusing after a while.
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PERSONAL ACCOUNT / USA
Every good blog asks the Web a question at the start: is there any demand out there for
an original... for me? But you have to do the blog for a while before you find out what it is
supposed to be.
The title PressThink derives from terms like "group think," but the group is the press. The
title is also short for press thinking or doctrine, the philosophy journalists live by - one
might say the religion of the press. These are subjects that interest me. Press think is what
I do myself, as a critic and writer. I'm also engaged in it when I operate my blog.
The idea is to lift the press think part from passing events that involve the press. And then
examine it, or get others to do the same. So that is what the title means. The blog is "about"
press think; it's also a contraption for making more press think. I think some bloggers don't
put enough thought into the title of their blog. In my case, not until I had the right title was
I ready to start my weblog.
I try to leave ideologically-charged press critique to others - individuals and organizations
- that do it eagerly, do it well. PressThink is not a media watch site, although I have written
about media-watchers. PressThink is not a "bias" hunter, in the usual sense, but I have
written about bias-hunting. I don't support George Bush, but I do write about his press
think. As I wrote in the introduction to my weblog: "I try to discover the consequences in
the world that result from having the kind of press we do."
Someone once asked me if I have a blogging "method." I read the press, watch the news,
click around in my blogroll, and hunt for something juicy, current, interesting. Then I collect
links, and start writing. Or someone e-mails me something and it leads to a post. Often
something happens and I know my readers will want to know what I think about it, so I
have to do a post. What I have instead of a firm method is a kind of style sheet, which has
self-imposed instructions for how to do a PressThink post.
In a typical PressThink post like this one, "Laying the Newspaper Gently Down to Die"...
http://journalism.nyu.edu/pubzone/weblogs/pressthink/2005/03/29/nwsp_dwn.html
44 | REPORTERS WITHOUT BORDERS
PERSONAL ACCOUNT / USA
There are five fields that get filled in: the title, the subtitle, the essay, the "after matter" (with
notes, reactions and links) and the comments. Each requires of me a different kind of writing.
The title condenses what the post is about, and arrests attention. The subheading explains
the argument, previewing the "story" in the essay. The essay is an essay - usually 1 ,500
to 2,500 words - but with 20 to 30 links, which are a gesture unto themselves. The "after"
section edits and tracks the wider discussion in the blog sphere, including reactions to my
post. The comments begin the dialogue.
A successful PressThink post is when all five parts talk to each other as they are read
against one another. A PressThink entry is not "done" until the after matter, trackbacks and
comments come in, which sometimes takes more than a week. That's one cycle in the tur-
ning of a weblog. When it works (always a hit and miss thing), the post at some point turns
into a forum on the subject that occasioned the post - and the forum is what "thinks." Of
course, I didn't know about this stylesheet and the posting logic it enforces until after I had
stumbled on it through trial and error. That's why you have to do your weblog for a while
before you know how to do it well.
Before I started PressThink I had to pass all my ideas about journalism and journalists
through the very gatekeepers in the press I was writing about. But now that I have my own
magazine I don't have to do that, and the gatekeepers come to my blog and read what I
think. That's a big difference. I finally have intellectual freedom.
Jay Rosen teaches journalism at New York University, where has been on the faculty since 1 986.
From 1 999 to 2005 he served as chair of the Department He lives in New York City. Rosen is the
author of PressThink, a weblog about journalism and its ordeals (www.pressthink.org), which he
introduced in September 2003: http://journalism.nyu.edu/pubzone/weblogs/pressthink
REPORTERS WITHOUT BORDERS | 45
PERSONAL ACCOUNT
HONG KONG
I KEPT MY PROMISE TO THOSE WHO DIED"
By Yan Sham-Shackleton
Dt is 1 2:23 am, in the early morning of June 4. Today is the 1 6th anniversary of
the Tiananmen Square Massacre in Beijing. When the event happened in 1 989
I was sitting in a tunnel outside the Xinhua News Agency office in Hong Kong
where hunger strikers had set up. We were supporting the students in China. We wanted
democracy for them and for ourselves. We no longer wanted to be colonial subjects of
Britain and we did not want to be subjects of the Communist Party either. We wanted to
be free.
About two, maybe three hours later, I heard the first shots coming through the radio,
followed by the sound of singing, screaming and tanks reverberating though the walls, and
we looked at each other and saw tears streaming down our faces.
We all know now that China will use tanks against those who seek democracy, but until
then we did not. I think it was at that moment that Glutterwas born in my head, when
I heard the ending of the 1 989 Democratic Movement on the radio, in a tunnel, with bright
fluorescent lights. I was 1 5.
If not at that moment, it was soon afterwards. I would make promises only young women
with no experience in the world could make with as little doubt as I did :
"I will not forget. I promise to remember forever. I will live my life better and for all of us
because I am alive and you are no longer. I won't let this happen again. I will remind the
world for you, the students of Tiananmen Square. My Heroes. My Big Brothers and
Sisters."
I made those promises in haste, in fear, in naivety. It never occurred to me how something
like that was to be achieved or if it was even possible. I only knew that it sounded right,
and all the adults were yelling those things out of loudspeakers.
It is only tonight that I'm thinking that all this writing, all the photos and artwork I have done
in the name of democracy, the cyber-protest I organized, the interviews I agreed to, and
the stories I published in the name of free speech are not only because I fervently believe
REPORTERS WITHOUT BORDERS | 47
in it but also because it is a way to
placate my subconscious. Blogging
allows me to keep my promises to
the dead.
I write this because I think people
should know that's why I have
managed to create Glutter, not
because I followed any rules, or
copied anybody else. Not because
I wanted attention or wanted to
make a name. I often prefer it best
when it is quiet and will let the blog
die a little when I feel there is too much attention focused on it because then I can just
write what I want, and tell the story that needs to be told in the way I like without pressure.
My advice to those interested in starting a blog is: don't listen to anyone except yourself.
Don't read anyone else's blog and try to emulate it. Don't sit down with a list of "musts"
and try to achieve it. I broke so many rules because I didn't know there were any and I did
just fine.
All you need to create a blog is the will to start.
All you need to keep one going is a will to record what you have to say.
Each of us experienced a moment of political awakening, a trigger that made us unders-
tand a kind of injustice that needed to be fixed. Otherwise you would not be an activist
with an idea to create something. Let that realization guide you. I hope you can convey
enough of your conviction to remind and inspire others to fight for change. That's all the
wisdom I can impart tonight.
It is now 2:33am. I can hear gunshots. Put, put, put. I hear them every year at this time. I
was 1 5. Probably too young to have experienced the events the way I did. But others were
too young to die.
Yan Sham-Shackleton wants you to know she spent six weeks writing six versions of this article where
she tried to record all she knows about blogging until she realized the beauty of the medium is that
you can be yourself.
On her blog, glutter.com, she talks about art as well as politics. Her outspokenness and stands in
favour of true democracy in Hong Kong mean that she is regularly censored inside China.
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■* D1M&TI mTOTf
r. ww*
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48 | REPORTERS WITHOUT BORDERS
PERSONAL ACCOUNT
IRAN
"WE CAN WRITE FREELY IN BLOGS"
By Arash Sigarchi
oday we understand Marshall McLuhan's observation that "the world is a global
village" better than he did. The invisible lines of the Internet mean that if some-
thing happens in Asia, the Americas, Europe or a remote island off Africa, we
will get to know about it.
For years journalism has been faced with restrictions, but these can now be removed by
technology.
I am a journalist in a country where restrictions prevent me from doing my job. In addition
to "inter-organizational" factors that exist in most media of the world, "out-of-organization"
elements such as legal restrictions, the influence of government and individuals, one-
sided support of news resources, pressure groups and owners of capital have greater
influence than in advanced countries. So I have to think about the independence of my
country and its reflection in true news and my analysis of news. One of my solutions for
breaking through the hindrances was a blog.
We can freely write in blogs. Since they do not involve printing or expressing news in
audio-visual media, writing in them provides news and points of views more quickly.
Blogs can be seen as small news or comment agencies where the writer is both a
correspondent and editor-in-chief.
Some say blogs should focus less on news. People like to record their daily activities
there. These amateur writers have fewer readers, often just friends and relatives.
But the blogs of noted journalists and artists, and political, economic, social and sports
personalities, even if they just write about their daily lives, are noticed because of their
news value and fame. These people have a lot of subjects to write about and attract readers.
I believe each blog attracts its own readers depending on their interests, so no restriction
is required on blog writing.
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PERSONAL ACCOUNT / IRAN
I have chosen two methods for blog writing. In the first, I express unofficially (colloquially)
my views on current issues. In the second, I write news, analyses, interviews, reports, or
essays. So I can have both groups of readers: those who want to know what I am doing
these days and those who want me to express my views more precisely as a journalist,
writer and poet.
A blog as an on-line media provides the writer with an opportunity to have the frank views
and criticism of readers and reply to them or improve himself. In this close relationship
with the readers, the blogger has the opportunity to guide his reader directly with his
views and write the things that readers enjoy more.
As I have already mentioned, if you want to print a book, poem, story, or even newspaper
or magazine in Iran, you have to obtain permission from the authorities. Very many
writers and journalists are affected by this.
But if you want to publish a story, poem or essay in a newspaper or magazine, it will be
censored. So many Iranian writers publish their views in blogs, at less cost and they are
not forced to censor themselves. So the government, as in China and elsewhere, restricts
Internet use.
50 | REPORTERS WITHOUT BORDERS
PERSONAL ACCOUNT / IRAN
Internet journalism could advance freedom of expression and wider viewpoints. Although
I have been convicted by Iranian courts, I have not lost hope and I am sure that in coming
years the rulers of my country will have to respect the free flow of information and
expression freedom.
Journalist and blogger Arash Sigarchi was born in 1 978, during the revolution that eventually
overthrew the Shah, and began doing journalism in 1993, aged only 15. When reformist
President Mohammad Khatami was elected in 1 997, he joined the reformist press. After this
media was shut down in April 2000, he went to live in northern Iran, where he edited a 1 2-page
daily paper, Gilan Emrouz (now Gilan).
He began blogging in 2001 on a collective blog called Gileh Mard ("The Man from Gilan"). In
2002, he started up his personal web site, Panjereh Eltehab ("The Window of Hope") (www.sigar-
chi.com).
In early 2005, he was held for two months by the information and security ministry and then sen-
tenced to 1 4 years in prison. He is free pending an appeal.
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PERSONAL ACCOUNT
NEPAL
"WE TELL THE OUTSIDE WORLD WHAT'S HAPPENING"
Radio Free Nepal (RFN) http://freenepal.blogspot.com
hebruary 1, 2005. Nepal's King Gyanendra took over the power which was
informed to general public via a television speech. After the speech was
concluded, I wanted to know the international reactions of the move and
tried to open the dial-up connection. But it said there is no phone line
attached. I understood that the phone line has been cut off. In an attempt to quash any
possible outflow of information criticizing his move, the King has ordered the army not
only to lock up the ISPs but also to stop telecommunication services.
During that time, people were talking about all sorts of consequences - some of them
praising the move. At my newspaper office, everybody was foreseeing a glum future
with the army personnel invading into the television newsroom to censor. I thought at
that time it would be appropriate to note down the daily events and people's thought
as a diary. I did that on my computer.
On February 8, basic telecommunication services and internet services resumed. I was
asked by many to explain what had happened in Nepal through emails. At the time,
I thought my diary would best explain the situation here. Some friends at United States
of America suggested me to blog the diary in back dates. Since I was a bit novice in
blogging matters, they set up the site and entered the entries for me. It was decided
that I would remain anonymous and ask other friends to write on blogs anonymously,
which would save us from possible harassment and prison.
Heavy censorship in earlier days in media and free flow of information on RFN gave
the popularity to the site, with Blogger.com recommending a visit. My friends in USA
did their best to popularize the site. Within weeks, it was pretty much popular.
The decision to start RFN was taken so that people around the world can understand
how individuals are feeling about the King's direct rule. Under heavy censorship, media
would be forced to write what the King wants and would be all but insufficient to represent
people's true voices. RFN despite being an effort of an individual with entries from a
few people would best represent the common voices without the censorship and fear
of harassment.
52 | REPORTERS WITHOUT BORDERS
PERSONAL ACCOUNT / NEPAL
Earlier entries in RFN were mostly diary type daily event describers. Later entries are
more thoughtful and analysis of various events. In the political situation of Nepal where
the King has assumed direct power bypassing the people's choices, RFN is much more
relevant because it carries the thoughts of a common person.
What actually I thrive for is democracy in the country because I believe that's the only
way where the country will prosper and my career as journalist would carry meanings.
Writing under censorship is something like drinking coffee without sugar - there is no
taste. As journalists we come to know many things that never made to the papers like
one that was published in RFN - the King acquiring personal properties in an inappro-
priate way. Many journalists knew that, criticized that, laughed at the King but couldn't
write it.
The other purpose RFN served was to spread Nepal's situation among many people
around the world. Nepal's situation could have gone unheard of by many thousands of
people if there hadn't been RFN. This I think is good for making conscience among the
world population to think about the country.
Electronic advancement has given so much for our society. I write freely without fear
because I believe the way I am doing the blogging, writing them and emailing them to
a friend in US to post, is not traceable without some heavy measure. When democracy
will return to my country giving us 'air to breathe freely' I will be proud of myself as
I would feel I have contributed a little for that.
Many questioned me through the email what is the credibility of the posts. I told them
a mere name can't be a measure of credibility. I didn't want to publish name because
until democracy dawns in Nepal, the situation can go even further wrong and I could
be forced into prison for blogging. I do not fear prison but I want to continue RFN to
provide information about Nepal to the world. I also told them I would give them my
name when the ordeal of the King's rule will be over.
Until then, thank you to all for your support.
RFN BLOGGER, NEPAL
wewantdemocracy@gmail.com
Radio Free Nepal is a blog that defies King Gyanendra's direct asumption of power and censorship of
media. Working for restoration of democracy, RFN is a site that carries firsthand information about
Nepal to the world. Its contributors post anonymously as there is a threat from the authorities.
USEFUL TIPS
HOW TO BLOG
ANONYMOUSLY
By Ethan Zuckerman
his is a quick technical guide to anonymous blogging that tries to approach the
problem from the angle of a government whistleblower in a country with a less-
than-transparent government. It's not intended for cypherpunks, but for people
in developing nations who are worried about their safety and want to take practical steps
to protect their privacy.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation's guide, "How to Blog Safely"
(http://www.eff.org/Privacy/Anonymity/blog-anonymously.php), also offers some very
good t advice on this.
SO M MAI RE Introducing Sarah
Step 1 - Pseudonyms
Step 2 - Public computers
Step 3 - Anonymous proxies
Step 4 - This time it's personal!
Step 5 - Onion Routing through Tor
Step 6 - MixMaster, Invisiblog and GPG
How much anonymity is enough? How much hassle is too much?
INTRODUCING SARAH
Sarah works in a government office as an accountant. She becomes aware that her boss,
the deputy minister, is stealing large amounts of money from the government. She wants
to let the world know that a crime is taking place, but she's worried about losing her job.
If she reports the matter to the minister (if she could ever get an appointment!), she might
get fired. She calls a reporter at the local newspaper, but he says he can't run a story with-
out lots more information and documents proving her claims.
So Sarah decides to put up a weblog to tell the world what she knows about what's
happening in the ministry. To protect herself, she wants to make sure no one can find out
who she is, based on her blog posts. She needs to blog anonymously.
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HOW TO BLOG ANONYMOUSLY
There are two major ways she can get caught when trying to blog anonymously. One is if
she reveals her identity through the content she posts - for instance, if she says: "I'm the
assistant chief compliance accountant to the deputy minister of mines," there's a good
chance that someone reading her blog is going to figure out who she is pretty quickly.
The other way Sarah can get caught is if someone can determine her identity from infor-
mation provided by their web browsers or email programs. Every computer attached to
the internet has - or shares - an address called an IP address - it's a series of four
numbers from 0-255, separated by dots - for instance: 21 3.24.1 24.38. When Sarah uses
her web browser to make a comment on the minister's blog, the IP address she was using
is included on her post.
With a little work, the minister's computer technicians may be able to trace Sarah's
identity from this IP address. If Sarah is using a computer at home, dialing into an Internet
service provider, the ISP likely has records of which IP address was assigned to which
telephone number at a specific time. In some countries, the minister might need a
subpoena to obtain these records; in others (especially ones where the ISP is owned by
the government), the ISP might give out this information very easily, and Sarah might find
herself in hot water.
There are a number of ways Sarah can hide her identity when using the Internet. As a
general rule, the more secure she wants to be, the more work she needs to do to hide her
identity. Sarah - and anyone else hoping to blog anonymously - needs to consider just
how paranoid she wants to be before deciding how hard she wants to work to protect her iden-
tity. As you will see, some of the strategies for protecting identity online require a great
deal of technical knowledge and work.
STEP ONE - PSEUDONYMS
One easy way Sarah can hide her identity is to use a free webmail account and free blog
host outside her native country. (Using a paid account for either email or webhosting is a
poor idea, as the payment will link the account to a credit card, a checking account or
Paypal account that could be easily linked to Sarah.) She can create a new identity -
a pseudonym - when she signs up for these accounts, and when the minister finds her
blog, he'll discover that it belongs to "A. N. Ymous", with the email address
anonymous.whistleblower@hotmail.com.
Some providers of free webmail accounts:
Hotmail
Yahoo
Hushmail - free webmail with support for strong cryptography
Some providers of free weblog hosting:
Blogsome - free WordPress blogs
Blogger
Seo Blog
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Here's the problem with this strategy. When Sarah signs up for an email service or a
weblog, the webserver she's accessing logs her I P address. If that I P address can be traced
to her - if she's using her computer at home or her computer at work - and if the email
or weblog company is forced to release that information, she could be found. It's not a sim-
ple matter to get most web service companies to reveal this information - to get Hotmail,
for instance, to reveal the IP Sarah used to sign up for her account, the minister would
likely need to issue a subpoena, probably in cooperation with a US law enforcement
agency. But Sarah may not want to take the risk of being found if her government can per-
suade her email and weblog host to reveal her identity.
STEP TWO - PUBLIC COMPUTERS
One extra step Sarah could take to hide her identity is to begin using computers to make
her blogposts that are used by lots of other people. Rather than setting up her webmail
and weblog accounts from her home or work computer, Sarah could set them up from a
computer in a cybercafe, library or university computer lab. When the minister traces the
IP used to post a comment or item, he'll find the post was made from a cybercafe, where
any number of people might have been using the computers.
There are flaws in this strategy as well. If the cybercafe or computer lab keeps track of who
is using what computer at what time, Sarah's identity could be compromised. She shouldn't
try to post in the middle of the night when she's the only person in the computer lab -
the geek on duty is likely to remember who she is. And she should change cybercafes
often. If the minister discovers that all the whistleblower's posts are coming from "Joe's
Beer and Bits"on Main Street, he might stake someone out to watch the cybercafe and
see who's posting to blogs in the hope of catching Sarah.
STEP THREE - ANONYMOUS PROXIES
Sarah's getting sick of walking to Joe's cybercafe every time she wants to post to her blog.
With some help from the neighborhood geek, she sets up her computer to access the web
through an anonymous proxy. Now, when she uses her webmail and weblog services,
she'll leave behind the IP address of the proxy server, not the address of her home
machine... which will make it very hard for the minister to find her.
First, she finds a list of proxy servers online, by searching for "proxy server" on Google.
She picks a proxy server from the publicproxyservers.com list, choosing a site marked
"high anonymity". She writes down the IP address of the proxy and the port listed on the
proxy list.
Some reliable lists of public proxies:
• publicproxyservers.com - anonymous and non-anonymous proxies.
• Samair (http://www.samair.ru/proxy/) - only anonymous proxies, and includes
information on proxies that support SSL.
• rosinstrument proxy database (http://tools.rosinstrument.com/proxy/) - searchable
database of proxy servers.
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HOW TO BLOG ANONYMOUSLY
Then she opens the "preferences" section of her web browser. Under "general", "net-
work" or "security" (usually), she finds an option to set up a proxy to access the Internet.
(On the Firefox browser, this option is found under Preferences - General - Connection
Settings.)
She turns on "manual proxy configuration", enters the IP address of the proxy server and
port into the fields for HTTP proxy and SSL proxy and saves her settings. She restarts her
browser and starts surfing the web.
She notices that her connection to the web seems a bit slower. That's because every page
she requests from a webserver takes a detour. Instead of connecting directly to
hotmail.com, she connects to the proxy, which then connects to Hotmail. When Hotmail
sends a page to her, it goes to the proxy first, then to her. She also notices she has some
trouble accessing websites, especially those that want her to log in. But at least her IP isn't
being recorded by her weblog provider.
A fun experiment with proxies: Visit noreply.org, a popular remailer website. The site will
greet you by telling you what IP address you're coming from: "Hello pool-1 51 -203-1 82-
21 2.wma.east. verizon.net 1 51 .203.1 82.21 2, pleased to meet you."
Now go to anonymizer.com, a web service that allows you to view (some) webpages
through an anonymous proxy. In the box on the top right of the anonymizer page,
enter the URL for http://www.noreply.org (or just click [http://anon.free.anonymiz-
er.com/http://www.noreply.org this link].) You'll note that noreply.org now thinks you're
coming from vortex.anonymizer.com. (Anonymizer is a nice way to test proxies without
needing to change your browser settings, but it won't work with most sophisticated web
services, like webmail or weblogging servers.)
Finally, follow the instruction above to set up your web browser to use an anonymous
proxy and then visit noreply.org to see where it thinks you're coming from.
Alas, proxies aren't perfect either. If the country Sarah lives in has restrictive Internet laws,
many websurfers may be using proxies to access sites blocked by the government. The
government may respond by ordering certain popular proxies to be blocked. Surfers
move to new proxies, the government blocks those proxies, and so the circle continues.
All this can become very time-consuming.
Sarah has another problem if she's one of very few people in the country using a proxy.
If the comments on her blog can be traced to a single proxy server, and if the minister can
access logs from all the ISPs within a country, he might be able to discover that Sarah's
computer was one of the very few that accessed a specific proxy server. He can't demon-
strate that Sarah used the proxy to post to a weblog server, but he might conclude that
the fact that the proxy was used to make a weblog post and that she was one of the few
people in the nation to use that proxy constituted evidence that she made the post. Sarah
would do well to use proxies that are popular locally and to switch proxies often.
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STEP FOUR - THIS TIME IT'S PERSONAL
Sarah starts to wonder what happens if the proxy servers she's using get compromised.
What if the minister convinces the operator of a proxy server - either through legal means
or bribery - to keep records and see whether anyone from his country is using the proxy,
and what sites they're using? She's relying on the proxy administrator to protect her, and
she doesn't even know who the administrator is. Though the proxy administrator may not
even know she's running a proxy - proxies are often left open by accident.
Sarah has friends in Canada - a country less likely to censor the Internet than Sarah's own
country - who might be willing to help her maintain her blog while protecting her identity.
Sarah phones her friend and asks him to set up "Circumventor" on his system.
Circumventor is one of dozens of proxy servers a user can set up to allow people to use
his computer as a proxy.
Sarah's friend Jim downloads Circumventor (http://www.peacefire.org/circumven
tor/simple-circumventor-instructions.html) from Peacefire.org and installs it on his
Windows system. It's not an easy install - he needs to install Perl on his system, then install
OpenSA, then Circumventor. And he now needs to keep his computer connected to the
Internet constantly, so that Sarah can use it as a proxy without previously asking him to
turn it on. He gets the software set up, calls Sarah's cellphone and gives her a URL she can
start using to surf the web through his proxy, or post to her blog. This is especially con-
venient, because Sarah can use the proxy from home or from a cybercafe, and doesn't
have to make any changes on her system.
While Sarah's very grateful for Jim's help, there's a major problem with the arrangement.
Jim's computer - which runs Windows - reboots quite often. Whenever it does, his ISP
assigns a new IP address to the machine. Each time this happens, the proxy stops work-
ing for Sarah. Jim needs to contact Sarah again and tell her the new IP that Circumventor
is associated with. This rapidly gets expensive and frustrating. Sarah also worries that, if
she uses any one IP address too long, her ISP may succumb to government pressure and
start blocking it.
STEP FIVE - ONION ROUTING THROUGH TOR
Jim suggests that Sarah experiment with Tor, a relatively new system that provides a high
degree of anonymity for websurfing. Onion routing takes the idea of proxy servers - a
computer that acts on your behalf - to a new level of complexity. Each request made
through an onion routing network goes through two to 20 additional computers, making
it hard to trace what computer originated a request.
Each step of the Onion Routing chain is encrypted, making it harder for the government
of Sarah's country to trace her posts. Furthermore, each computer in the chain only
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HOW TO BLOG ANONYMOUSLY
knows its nearest neighbors. In other words, router B knows that it got a request for a web-
page from router A, and that it's supposed to pass the request on to router C. But the
request itself is encrypted - router B doesn't actually know what page Sarah is requesting,
or what router will finally request the page from the webserver.
Given the complexity of the technology, Sarah is pleasantly surprised to discover how easy
it is to install Tor (http://tor.eff.org/cvs/tor/doc/tor-doc-win32.html), an onion routing
system. She downloads an installer which installs Tor on her system, then downloads and
installs Privoxy, a proxy that works with Tor and has the pleasant side benefit of removing
most of the ads from the webpages Sarah views.
After installing the software and restarting her machine, Sarah checks noreply.org and
discovers that she is, in fact, successfully "cloaked" by the Tor system - noreply.org thinks
she's logging on from Harvard University. She reloads, and now noreply thinks she's in
Germany. From this she concludes that Tor is changing her identity from request to
request, helping to protect her privacy.
This has some odd consequences. When she uses Google through Tor, it keeps switch-
ing language on her. One search, it's in English - another, Japanese. Then German, Danish
and Dutch, all in the course of a few minutes. Sarah welcomes the opportunity to learn
some new languages, but she's concerned about some other consequences. Sarah likes
to contribute to Wikipedia, but discovers that Wikipedia blocks her attempts to edit arti-
cles when she's using Tor.
Tor also seems to have some of the same problems Sarah was having with other proxies.
Her surfing slows down quite a bit, as compared to surfing the web without a proxy - she
finds that she ends up using Tor only when she's accessing sensitive content or posting
to her blog. And she's once again tied to her home computer, since she can't install Tor
on a public machine very easily.
Most worrisome, though, she discovers that Tor sometimes stops working. Evidently, her
ISP is starting to block some Tor routers - when Tor tries to use a blocked router, she can
wait for minutes at a time, but doesn't get the webpage she's requested.
STEP SIX - MIXMASTER, INVISIBLOG AND GPG
Surely there's a solution to the blogging problem that doesn't involve a proxy server, even
one as sophisticated as Tor.
After spending quite a long time with the local geek, she explores a new option: Invisiblog
(http://www.invisiblog.com/). Run by an anonymous group of Australians called
vigilant.tv, it's a site designed for and by the truly paranoid. You can't post to Invisiblog via
the web, as you do with most blog servers. You post to it using specially formatted email,
sent through the MixMaster remailer system, signed cryptographically.
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It took Sarah a few tries to understand that last sentence. Eventually, she set up GPG
(http://www.gnupg.org/) - the GNU implementation of Pretty Good Privacy, a public-key
encryption system (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public-key_cryptography).
In two sentences: Public-key encryption is a technique that allows her to send messages
to a person that only she can read, without her needing to share a secret key with you that
would let you read messages other people send to her. Public key encryption also allows
people to "sign" documents with a digital signature that is almost impossible to forge.
She generates a keypair that she will use to post to the blog - by signing a post with her
"private key", the blog server will be able to use her "public key" to check that a post is
coming from her, and then put it on the blog. (see also the chapter on "How to ensure
e-mail is truly private")
She then sets up MixMaster, a mailing system designed to obscure the origins of an email
message. MixMaster uses a chain of anonymous remailers - computer programs that strip
all identifying information off an email and send it to its destination - to send email messages
with a high degree of anonymity. By using a chain of 2 to 20 remailers, the message is
very difficult to trace, even if one or more of the remailers is "compromised" and is recording
sender information. She has to "build" MixMaster by compiling its source code, a project
that requires a great deal of geek assistance.
She sends a first MixMaster message to Invisiblog, which includes her public key.
Invisiblog uses this to set up a new blog, with the catchy name "invisiblog.com/
ac4589d7001 ac238" - the long string is the last 1 6 bytes of her GPG key. Then she sends
future posts to invisiblog, by writing a text message, signing it with her public key and
sending it via MixMaster.
It's not nearly as fast as her old style of blogging. The misdirection of MixMaster mailers
means that it takes anywhere from two hours to two days for her message to reach the
servers. And she has to be very careful about looking at the blog - if she looks at it too
often, her IP address will appear in the blog's log frequently, signaling that she's likely to
be the blog author. But she's reassured by the fact that the owners of Invisiblog have no
idea who she is.
The main problem with the Invisiblog system is the fact that it's incredibly difficult for most
people to use. Most people find GPG a challenge to set up, and have difficulty understanding
the complexities of public and private keys. More user-friendly crypto tools, like Ciphire,
have been set up to help the less geeky of us, but even they can be tricky to use. As a
result, very few people - including those who might really need it - use encryption for
most of their email.
MixMaster is a true technical challenge for most users. Windows users can use an early
DOS version of the program by downloading it here: http://prdownloads. source
forge.net/mixma er/mix204b46.zip?download. I downloaded and tested it, and it doesn't
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HOW TO BLOG ANONYMOUSLY
appear to work... or perhaps my email is still being remailed back and forth between
remailers. Anyone wanting to use the newer version, or wanting to use the program on Linux
or Mac, needs to be able to compile the program themselves, a task beyond many expert
users. It's possible that Invisiblog would become more useful if it accepted messages from
web-accessible remailers, like riot.eu.org but for now, I can't see it as being particularly
helpful for the people who need it most.
There are other problems with strong encryption in repressive countries. If Sarah's
computer is seized by the government and her private key is found, it would constitute
strong evidence that Sarah had authored the controversial blog posts. And, in countries
where encryption is not widely used, simply sending out MixMaster messages - mail
messages wrapped in strong encryption - might be enough to cause Sarah's Internet
activity to be watched closely.
HOW MUCH ANONYMITY IS ENOUGH? HOW MUCH HASSLE IS TOO MUCH?
Is Sarah's solution - learning enough about cryptography and software to use MixMaster -
your solution? Or is some combination of steps 1 -5 enough to let you blog anonymously?
There's no single answer. Any path towards anonymity needs to consider local conditions,
your own technical competence and your level of paranoia. If you're worried that what
you're posting could put you at risk and you're capable of installing it, posting to a blog
through Tor is a very good idea.
And remember not to sign your blog posts with your
real name !
Ethan Zuckerman is a fellow at the Berkman Center for
Internet and Society at Harvard Law School where his
research focuses on the relationship between citizen jour-
nalism and conventional media, especially in the develop-
ing world. He's a founder and former director of
Geekcorps, a non-profit organization that focuses on tech-
nology training in the developing world, and was one of
the founders of webhosting company Tripod.
62 | REPORTERS WITHOUT BORDERS
USEFUL TIPS
TECHNICAL WAYS
TO GET ROUND CENSORSHIP
By Nart Villeneuve
CONTENTS
• INTERNET CONTENT FILTERING
• CIRCUMVENTION TECHNOLOGIES
• DETERMINING NEEDS AND CAPACITY
• WEB-BASED CIRCUMVENTORS
Public Web-based circumvention services
Web-based circumvention software
Web-based circumvention: security concerns
• PROXY SERVERS
Proxy server software
Publicly accessible proxy servers
- Locating open proxies
- Open proxies: uncommon ports
Proxy servers: security concerns
•TUNNELING
• ANONYMOUS COMMUNICATIONS SYSTEMS
• CONCLUSION
INTERNET CONTENT FILTERING
Filtering technology allows controls to be placed on access to Internet content. Although
the initial focus of such technology was on the individual level - allowing
parents to restrict children's access to inappropriate content - filtering technology is
now being widely deployed at institutional and national level. Control over access to
Internet content is becoming a priority for a number of institutional actors including
schools, libraries and corporations. Increasingly, filtering technology is being deployed at
national level. Access to specific Internet content is being blocked for entire populations,
often with little accountability.
Content filtering technologies rely on list-based blocking, often in conjunction with
blocking techniques that use keyword matching, to dynamically block Internet content.
Lists of domain names and URLs are compiled and categorized then loaded into filtering
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software which can be configured to block only certain categories. When users try to
access a web page, the filtering software checks its list database and blocks access to any
web page on that list. If keyword blocking is enabled, the software will check each web
page (the domain, URL path and/or body content of the requested page) and dynamically block
access to the web page if any of the banned keywords are present.
Filtering systems are prone to two inherent flaws: over-blocking and under-blocking. They
often block access to wrongly classified content and often do not block all access to the
content they intend to block. But the key issue is the secrecy surrounding the creation of
lists of websites that are blocked by filtering technologies. Although there are some open
source lists (focusing mostly on pornography), commercial filtering lists and lists deployed
at national level are secret. Commercial lists of categorized domains and URLs are the
intellectual property of their manufacturers and not made public. Despite the fact that
some filtering software manufacturers make online URL checkers available, the block lists
as a whole are secret and unavailable for independent scrutiny and analysis.
Often countries will build on commercial filtering technology lists adding specific websites
pertinent to their respective countries. Blocked sites most often include opposition political
parties or newspapers, human rights organizations, international news organizations and
content critical of the government. Most countries focus on local language content, as
opposed to English sites, and increasingly target interactive discussion sites such as web
blogs and web forums.
CIRCUMVENTION TECHNOLOGIES
In response to state-directed Internet filtering and monitoring regimes, many forms of
circumvention technologies have emerged to allow users to bypass filtering restrictions.
There are numerous projects to develop technologies that would enable citizens and civil
society networks to secure themselves against, or work around, Internet censorship and
surveillance. These tools as are referred to as "circumvention technologies." In general,
circumvention technologies work by routing a user's request from a country that imple-
mented filtering through an intermediary machine that is not blocked by the filtering regime.
This computer then retrieves the requested content for the censored user and transmits
the content back to the user. Sometimes, these technologies may be specifically designed
for a particular filtering situation or customized for a specific country. Other times, users
may simply adapt existing technologies for circumvention purposes even though that may
not be the original purpose of the technology.
Some of these technologies are developed by private companies, others by ad-hoc
groups of hackers and activists. They range from small, simple scripts and programs to
highly-developed peer-to-peer network protocols. Given the range of the technologies
involved it is necessary for potential users to be able to weigh the strengths and weaknesses
of specific techniques and technologies so as to choose the appropriate circumvention
technologies that suit their needs.
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There are two users of circumvention technologies: the circumvention provider and the
circumvention user. The circumvention provider installs software on a computer in a non-
filtered location and makes this service available to those who access the Internet from a
censored location. Thus successful circumvention relies on meeting the specific needs of
both users.
This paper aims to inform users who have made the decision to use circumvention
technologies of the available options and how to assess which is best suited to the specific
needs of the user. This is done by determining the needs and capacity of the users involved
- those using as well as those running the circumvention technology - while balancing the
appropriate level of security with the technologies' usability by the end-user. Effective,
secure, and stable circumvention is achieved by matching the right technology with the
right user.
DETERMINING NEEDS AND CAPACITY
Circumvention technologies often target different types of users with varying resources
and levels of expertise. What may work well in one scenario may not be the best option
in another. When choosing a circumvention technology it is important for the potential
circumvention provider and user to ask these questions :
What is the number of expected users and the available bandwidth? (for the circumvention
provider and the user).
Where is the primary point of Internet access for the expected user(s) and what will they
be using it for?
What is the level of technical expertise? (for the circumvention provider and the user).
What is the availability of trusted out-of-country contacts for the end-user?
What is the level of expected penalty if the user is caught using circumvention technology ?
• Does the end-user properly understand the potential security risks of using the specific
circumvention technology?
NUMBER OF USERS AND AVAILABLE BANDWIDTH
The circumvention provider needs to estimate the number of users the circumvention
technology is intended for and balance that with the available bandwidth. The end-user
must also take into account their bandwidth as circumvention technology will slow their
Internet use.
People interested in running public proxies need to consider that their circumventor may
be used by persons who are not in censored locations. For example, circumventors may
be used to download entire movies which will use a lot of bandwidth. Therefore you may
wish to restrict access to your circumventor or how much total bandwidth you'd like to
circumventor to be restricted to. Different available technologies provide some or all of
these options.
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PRIMARY POINT OF ACCESS AND USE
There will be varying options of applicable circumvention technologies depending on
where the end-users access the Internet and what services they need to run through the
circumvention system. For example, users who access the Internet from public computers
or Internet cafes may not be able to install any software and will be restricted to web-based
solutions. Others may want to use applications besides Web browsing (HTTP), such as e-
mail (SMTP) and file transfers (FTP), and thus may want to install software on their com-
puter workstation and to tweak their computer's settings. Of course, this requires a cer-
tain level of technical skill on the part of that user.
LEVEL OF TECHNICAL EXPERTISE
The greater the level of technical expertise (and limited number of users) the more circum-
vention options increase. The barriers to non-technical users include the installation and
set-up process as well as any configuration changes or extra steps that must be taken
when actually using the circumvention technology. This applies to both the circumvention
provider and the end-user. The incorrect use of circumvention technology may put users
at avoidable risk.
AVAILABILITY OF TRUSTED CONTACTS
End-users can greatly enhance their circumvention options if they know and trust persons
outside their country. If a user does not have a trusted contact then their options are limited
to publicly available systems and if the user can locate these systems so can those imple-
menting the filtering and blocking. With a trusted contact the end-user can consult with
the circumvention provider to find a solution that meets their specific needs and can be
kept private to avoid detection. Successful, long-term and stable circumvention is greatly
enhanced by having a trusted contact in a non-filtered location.
THE EXPECTED PENALTY
It is extremely important to know the penalty users face if they are caught using circumvention
technology. Depending on the severity, options will vary. If the legal environment is lax and
the expected penalty low, users can choose from a variety of options which, while effective
at circumvention, are not very secure. If the environment is extremely dangerous, care
must be taken to implement technologies that are both discreet and secure. Some may even
be used with a legitimate cover story or other forms of obfuscation.
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SECURITY RISKS
Too often users are encouraged to use circumvention technology without being properly
informed of the potential security risks, which can be minimized by deploying the right
technology in the right place and used correctly by the end-user.
WEB-BASED CIRCUMVENTORS
Web-based circumventors are special web pages that contain a web form that allows users
to simply submit a URL and have the web-based circumventor retrieve the content of the
requested web page and display it to the user. There is no connection between the user
and the requested website,
and the circumventor transpa-
rently proxies the request allo-
wing to user to browse
blocked websites seamlessly.
Web-based circumventors
also re-write the links in the
requested web page to point
back through the circumven-
tor itself so that the user can
continue web surfing normal-
ly. When using a web-based
circumventor, the end-user
does not have to install any
software or change any of
their browser settings. All the
end-user has to do is visit the
URL of the circumventor,
enter the URL they wish to
visit in the form located on
the circumventor page and
press the submit button.
(Web-based circumventors
may look different from one
another but the basic functio-
nality is the same). Thus no
level of expertise is required
and it can be used from any
point of access.
tPrh 1 — ■- 1— r*
Proxy servers / change the navigator settings
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Advantages :
Web-based circumvention systems are easy to use and no software needs to be installed
at the end-user level.
Public web-based circumvention services are available to users who do not have a trusted
contact in an unfiltered location.
Private web-based circumvention systems can be customized to meet the specific circum-
vention needs to users and are less likely to be found by the filtering authorities.
Disadvantages :
Web-based circumvention systems are often restricted to web traffic (HTTP) and may not
be accessible by encrypted access (SSL). Web services (such as web-based email) that
require authentication may not be fully functional.
Public web-based circumvention services are generally well known and may already be
blocked. Most of these services are already blocked by commercial filtering software.
Private web-based circumvention systems require that a user have a contact in an unfiltered
location. Ideally, the two parties must be able to communicate in some way that isn't easily
monitored.
PUBLIC WEB-BASED CIRCUMVENTION SERVICES
There is publicly available web-based circumvention software as well as services. Most
provide free service while some have more options, such as encrypted access, available
with a paid subscription. Some are operated by companies, others by volunteers as a
public service. A few examplzs:
http://www.anonymizer.com/ http://www.guardster.com/
http://www.unipeak.com/ http://www.webwarper.net/
http://www.anonymouse.ws/ http://www.proximal.com/
http://www.proxyweb.net/ http://www.the-cloak.com/
Since the web addresses of these services are widely known, most Internet filtering appli-
cations already have these services on their block lists as do many countries that filter at
national level. If the web addresses of these services are blocked they cannot be used. Also,
many public web-based circumventors do not encrypt the traffic between the circumventor
and the end-user. Any information transmitted by the user can be intercepted by the
operator of the circumvention service.
Public Web-based circumvention services are best suited for users in low security risk envi-
ronments who are without trusted contacts in non-filtered locations and have temporary or
ad-hoc circumvention needs and who do not need to transmit sensitive information.
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WEB-BASED CIRCUMVENTION SOFTWARE
Installation of web-based circumvention software can require some level of technical exper-
tise and appropriate resources (a web server and bandwidth). With a private circumventor,
the location is only made known to the intended users whereas public circumventors and
anonymity services are known to both users and those implementing filtering (and are on
most commercial filtering software's blocklists). The chances of private circumventors being
detected are blocked and lower than that of public circumvention services.
Private circumventors can be set up with some level of customization tailored to the speci-
fic needs of the end-user. Some common customizations are changing the port number
that the web server runs on and implementing encryption. Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) is a
protocol for transmitting content securely over the Internet. It is often used by websites to
securely transmit information, such as credit card numbers. SSL-enabled websites are
accessed with "HTTPS" instead of the normal "HTTP".
Another option when using SSL is creating an innocuous web page at the root of the web
server and concealing the circumventor with a random path and file name. Although an
intermediary may be able to determine the server the user is connecting to, they will not
be able to determine the requested path because that part of the request is encrypted. For
example, if a user connects to "https://example.com/secretcircumventor/" an intermedia-
ry will be able to determine that the user connected to example.com but they will not know
that the user requested the circumventor. If the circumventor operator places an innocuous
page at example.com, then even if any monitoring is occurring the circumventor will not be
discovered.
• CGI Proxy: A CGI script acts as an HTTP or FTP proxy.
http://www.jmarshall.com/tools/cgiproxy
• Peacefire's Circumventor: An automated installer program that makes it much easier
for non-technical users to install and configure CGI Proxy.
http://www.peacefire.org/circumventor/simple-circumventor-instructions.html
• pHproxy: An experimental, highly configurable web-based circumventor.
http :/ /ice.citizenlab.org/ projects/ phproxy
• Psiphon: An SSL-enabled webserver with built-in web-based circumventor.
http://soon to be released
Private web-based circumventors, with encryption enabled, are best suited for users that
require stable circumvention services for web traffic and have trusted contacts in non-
filtered locations that have sufficient technical skills and available bandwidth to set up and
maintain the web-based circumventor. This is the most flexible circumvention option
available for simple web traffic and is least likely to be discovered and blocked.
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WEB-BASED CIRCUMVENTION: SECURITY CONCERNS
Circumvention systems do not necessarily provide anonymity. Although the end-users
identity is shielded from the operators of the websites visited. If the session between the
user and the web-based circumventor is in plain text (HTTP), as with most free services,
the content can be easily intercepted and analyzed by an intermediary such as an Internet
service provider (ISP). So although circumvention may be successful, the authorities can
still track the fact that the user has visited and used a web-based circumventor. Moreover
they can determine what content, including what websites the user visited, was exchanged
between the web-based circumventor and the end-user.
Web-based circumventors that operate in plain text mode (non-encrypted) sometimes use
URL obfuscation to counter filtering conducted by looking for key words in Uniform
Resource Locators (URL). For example, using a simple technique such as ROT-1 3, where
the current letter is replaced by the one 1 3 characters ahead of it in the alphabet, the URL
http://ice.citizenlab.org becomes uggC://vpr.pvgvmrayno.bet. In effect, the text of the
URL is encoded so that the key words the filtering technology is scanning for will not be
present in the requested URL. However, the content of the session can still be sniffed even
if the circumvention was successful.
There are also risks concerning the use of cookies and scripts. Many web-based circum-
ventors can be configured to remove cookies and scripts, but many sites (e.g. webmail
sites) require the use of cookies and scripts. Care should be taken when enabling these
options. Another related risk, especially when using services that require logins/pass-
words, is accessing the circumventor through a plaintext connection and then using it to
request information from an encrypted server. In this scenario, the circumventor retrieves
the request information from the SSL-enabled server through an encrypted transmission,
but then sends the contents in plain text back to the user, thus exposing the sensitive
information to possible interception.
Some of these security issues can be solved by using web-based proxies through an
encrypted connection. Some web-based proxies are configured to be access using SSL
(HTTPS), which encrypts the connection between the end-user and the web-based cir-
cumventor. In this scenario, intermediaries can only observe the fact that the user has
connected to the web-based circumventor and cannot determine the content of the ses-
sion. It is highly recommended that users ensure they use SSL-enabled web-based cir-
cumventors if the security risks are high.
However, although the end-user's connection to the web-based circumventor may be
secure, any information passing through a web-based circumventor can be intercepted by
the owner of the web-based circumventor. An additional security concern is the records
that the circumvention provider keeps. Depending on the circumventor's location, or the
location of their server, authorities may have access to their log files.
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There are still some concerns that users should be aware of, even when using SSL-
enabled web-based circumventors. One is that using encryption may draw extra attention
to the users' circumvention activities, and the use of encryption may not be legal in all
locations. Also, it may be possible for the filtering authorities to determine what websites
a user visits through a web-based circumventor, even when using SSL encryption using
techniques known as HTTPS fingerprinting and Man-ln-The-Middle (MITM) attacks.
However, pages with dynamic content or circumventors that add random amounts of
decoy text or images to requested content can reduce this technique to a level of insigni-
ficant risk. If users are provided with the "fingerprint", or security signature, of the SSL
certificate they can manually verify that the certificate is in fact authentic, thus avoiding the
MITM attack (1).
PROXY SERVERS
A "proxy server" is a server
that is situated between a
client, such as a web brow-
ser, and a server, such as a
web server. The proxy server
acts a buffer between the
client and the server and can
support a variety of data
requests including web traffic
(HTTP), file transfers (FTP)
and encrypted traffic (SSL).
Proxy servers are used by
individuals, institutions, and states for a variety of purposes including security, anonymity,
caching and filtering. To use a proxy server, the end-user must configure the settings of
their web browser with the IP address or hostname of the proxy server as well as the port
number that the proxy server is running on. While this is fairly simple, it may not be
possible to modify browser settings in public Internet access locations such as libraries,
Internet cafes and workplaces.
1 For more on potential attacks on circumvention systems, see Bennett Haselton's article
("List of possible weaknesses in systems to circumvent Internet censorship")
at http://peacefire.org/circumventor/list-of-possible-weaknesses.html and a reply by Paul
Baranowski at: www.peek-a-booty.org/pbhtml/downloads/ResponseToLopwistcic.pdf
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Advantages:
There are many software packages to choose from that can transparently proxy traffic in
addition to web traffic (HTTP) and can be configured to operate on non-standard ports.
There are many publicly accessible proxy servers.
Disadvantages:
Most proxy servers are not enabled with encryption by default, therefore the traffic
between the user and the proxy is not secure.
The user must have the necessary permissions to change the browser settings, and if ISP's
require that all traffic go through the ISP's proxy server it may not be possible to use an
open proxy server.
The scanning for and use of publicly accessible proxy servers may be illegal and these
proxies may become unavailable to the user at any time.
PROXY SERVER SOFTWARE
Proxy server software can be installed by trusted contacts with some degree of technical
expertise located outside of the country that filters. Proxy server software should be
installed in locations where there is plenty of available bandwidth and should be configured
to use encryption technology. It is especially useful for situations in which an office or
small organization is in need of a stable circumvention solution. After users in the filtered
locations configure their browsers to point through the proxy server they can transparently
surf the Internet. While not the most stealthy circumvention solution, private proxy servers
are a more robust solution than web-based proxy systems. Proxy servers are better than
web-based proxies at seamlessly proxying sites that require authentication and cookies,
such as web mail sites. The proxy servers can also be customized to meet the specific
needs of the end-user and adapt to the local filtering environment.
• Squid is free proxy server software and can be secured with Stunnel server.
http://www.squid-cache.org
http://www.stunnel.org
http://ice.citizenlab.org/projects/aardvark
• Privoxy is a proxy with advanced filtering capabilities for protecting privacy.
http :/ / www. privoxy.org
• Secure Shell (SSH) has a built-in socks proxy ($ ssh -D port secure.host.com)
http://www.openssh.com
• HTTPport/HTTPhost allows you to bypass your HTTP proxy, which is blocking you
from the Internet.
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Private proxy servers with encryption enabled are best suited for groups or users in an office
environment that require a permanent, stable circumvention solution and have trusted
contacts with sufficient technical skills and available bandwidth outside the country to
install and maintain the proxy server
PUBLICLY ACCESSIBLE PROXY SERVERS
Open proxies are servers that are intentionally or otherwise left open for connections from
remote computers. It is not explicitly known if open proxy servers have been set up as a
public service or if they have been just badly configured to inadvertently allow public
access.
WARNING: Depending on the interpretation of local law, the use of open proxy servers
may be viewed as 'unauthorized access' and open proxy users may subject to legal penalties.
The use of open proxy servers is not recommended.
Locating open proxies
Many websites maintain lists of open proxy servers, but this not a guarantee that the proxy
service is still available. Nothing guarantees that the information on these lists, especially
information concerning anonymity level and geographical location of the proxy, is accura-
te. Be aware that you are using these services at your own risk.
Open proxy list websites:
http://www.samair.ru/ proxy/
http://www.antiproxy.com/
http://tools.rosinstrument.com/proxy/
http://www.multiproxy.org/
http://www.publicproxyservers.com/
Software: ProxyTools/LocalProxy
http://proxytools.sourceforge.net
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Open proxies: uncommon ports
Some countries that filter at national level block access to standard proxy ports. A "port"
is a logical connection location used by specific protocols. Different Internet services pass
data through on particular port numbers. Certain port numbers are assigned, by the
Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA), to specific protocols or services. For exam-
ple, port 80 is reserved for HTTP traffic. When you access a website in your browser you
are actually connecting to a web server running on port 80. Proxy servers also have ports
that are assigned to them by default. Therefore many filtering technologies will not allow
access to these ports. Therefore successful circumvention may require use of a proxy that
has been configured to operate on a non-standard port.
http://www.web.freerk.com/ proxylisthtm
PROXY SERVERS: SECURITY CONCERNS
The configuration of proxy servers is extremely important because it controls the security
or anonymity of a connection. In addition to the lack of use of encryption, proxy servers
may pass information about the end-user to the server the content has been requested
from that can be used to identify the IP address of the computer initiating the request for
content. Moreover, all the communication between you and the proxy server may be in
plain text, thus easily intercepted by upstream filtering authorities. And any information
passing through the proxy server can be intercepted by the owner of the proxy server.
The scanning for and use of publicly accessible proxy servers is not recommended. Open
proxy servers are often used due to their availability but they do not provide any security
despite the fact that they may be able to successfully circumvent Internet filtering.
As with web-based proxies, proxy servers are subject to the same security concern.
Harmful scripts and cookies will still be transmitted to the end-user and even if used in
conjunction with encryption technology, proxy servers can also be subject to MITM and
HTTPS fingerprinting attacks. It should also be noted that some browsers will leak sensiti-
ve information when using a socks proxy, a particular type of proxy server capable of
handling other types of traffic in addition to web traffic. When making a request for a web-
site the domain name is translated into an IP address. Some browsers do this locally so
the process is not directed through the proxy. In these cases, the request for the blocked
website's IP address will be handled by Domain Name System (DNS) servers in the coun-
try that implements filtering (2).
2 For more, see the Tor site: http://tor.eff.org/cvs/tor/doc/CLIENTS
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The use of open, publicly accessible proxy servers is not usually advisable and should only
be used by people in low security risk environments with temporary or ad-hoc anonymi-
ty needs and who do not need to transmit sensitive information.
TUNNELING
Tunneling, also known as port
forwarding, allows one to
encapsulate insecure, unen-
crypted traffic within an
encrypted protocol. The user
in a censored location must
download client software that
creates a tunnel to a compu-
ter in a non-filtered location.
The normal services on the
user's computer are available,
but run through the encryp-
ted tunnel to the non-filtered
computer which forward the
user's requests and their res-
ponses transparently. Various tunneling products are available. Users with contacts in a
non-filtered country can set up private tunneling services while those without contacts can
purchase commercial tunneling services, usually by monthly subscription.
When using free tunneling services users should note that they often include advertise-
ments. Requests for the advertisements are conducted through plain text HTTP requests
which can be intercepted by any intermediary who can then determine that the user is
using a tunneling service. Moreover, many tunneling services rely on the use of socks
proxies which may leak domain name requests.
http://www.http-tunnel.com/
http :/ / www. hopster.com/
http://www.htthost.com/
Advantages:
Tunneling applications provide encrypted network transfer.
Tunneling applications generally have the ability to securely proxy many protocols, not just
web traffic.
There are existing commercial services that users who do not have contacts in non-
filtered countries can purchase.
E II m I
Tunneling software
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TECHNICAL WAYS TO GET ROUND CENSORSHIP
Disadvantages:
Commercial tunneling services are publicly known and may already be filtered.
Tunneling applications cannot be used by users in public access locations where users
cannot install software, such as Internet cafes or libraries.
Use of tunneling applications may require a higher level of technical expertise than other
circumvention methods.
Tunneling applications are best suited for technically capable users that require secure (but
not anonymous) circumvention services for more than just web traffic and do not access
the Internet from public locations. Commercial tunneling services are an excellent resource
for users in censored countries that do not have trusted contacts in non-filtered locations.
ANONYMOUS COMMUNICATIONS SYSTEMS
Circumvention technologies and anonymous communications systems are similar and
often inter-related but operate under distinctly different criteria. Anonymous communications
systems focus on ensuring the privacy of the user by shielding the identity of the requesting
user from the content provider. In addition, advanced systems employ a variety of routing
techniques to ensure that the user's identity is shielded from the anonymous communications
system itself. Circumvention systems do not necessarily focus on anonymity. Instead,
the focus is on secure communications to bypass specific restrictions imposed on the
users' ability to send and receive Internet communications. Bypassing content restrictions
requires secure communications technology and often a degree of stealth but not
necessarily anonymity.
Anonymous communications systems are often used for circumvention. One advantage of
them is that there are several existing networks that can be immediately tapped into and used
to bypass content restrictions with the added benefit of being able to do so anonymously.
The use of anonymous communica-
tions systems for circumvention is
restricted to computers on which the
user has the appropriate permissions
to install software. Persons who
access the Internet through public
terminals, libraries or Internet cafes
will most likely be unable to use such
systems for circumvention. They may
also slow down connection speeds.
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76 | REPORTERS WITHOUT BORDERS
TECHNICAL WAYS TO GET ROUND CENSORSHIP
Users seeking to bypass Internet filtering at national or ISP level may find the filtering
authorities take steps to block the use of anonymous communications systems. If the sys-
tem being used operates on a static port, filtering software can easily be configured to
deny access. The more well-known the anonymous communications system, the greater
the risk that it will be blocked. In addition, to combat systems that rely on the use of peers
or publicly known nodes the filtering authorities can simply deny access to these hosts.
The filtering authorities may operate a node of their own and attempt to monitor users who
try to connect to it. In some restrictive environments where traffic to these well-known
systems is monitored, the use of such systems may draw attention to users (3).
Advantages:
They provide both security and anonymity.
They generally have the ability to securely proxy many protocols, not just web traffic.
They often have a community of users and developers who can provide technical assistance.
Disadvantages:
They are not specifically designed for circumvention. They are publicly known and may be
filtered easily.
They cannot be used by users in public access locations where users cannot install soft-
ware, such as Internet cafes or libraries.
• Tor is a network of virtual tunnels that allows people and groups to improve their
privacy and security on the Internet. It also enables software developers to create new
communication tools with built-in privacy features. Tor provides the foundation for a
range of applications that allow organizations and individuals to share information over
public networks without compromising their privacy.
http://tor.eff.org
• JAP makes it possible to surf the Internet anonymously. Instead of connecting directly
to a web server, users take a detour, connecting with encryption through several inter-
mediaries, so-called mixes.
http://anon.inf.tu-dresden.de/index_en.html
• Freenet is free software which lets you publish and obtain information on the Internet
without fear of censorship. It is entirely decentralized and publishers and consumers of
information are anonymous.
http://freenet.sourceforge.net
3 For more on potential attacks on circumvention systems, see Bennett Haselton's article
("List of possible weaknesses in systems to circumvent Internet censorship")
at http://peacefire.org/circumventor/list-of-possible-weaknesses.html
and a reply by Paul Baranowski at: www.peek
booty.org/pbhtml/downloads/ResponseToLopwistcic.pdf
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TECHNICAL WAYS TO GET ROUND CENSORSHIP
Use of such systems may require quite a high level of technical expertise.
Anonymous communications systems are best suited for technically capable users who
require both circumvention and anonymity services for more than just web traffic and do
not access the Internet from public locations.
CONCLUSION
The decision to use circumvention technology should be taken seriously, carefully analyzing
the specific needs, available resources and security concerns of the end-user. There is a
wide variety of technologies available for users who want to circumvent Internet filtering.
However, using them for successful and stable circumvention service depends on a variety
of factors, including the user's level of technical skill, potential security risk, and contacts
available outside the censored country. Governments may also take counter-measures to
effectively block specific circumvention technologies.
The keys to successful and stable circumvention capability are trust and performance.
Circumvention systems need to be targeted to users in specific circumstances or be
readily adaptable to the needs of the end-user. They need to be secure, configurable and
often stealthy. Trust should be established between circumvention provider and the end-
user by understanding the specific legal and political environment in which the end-user
operates and being up-front about the limitations of circumvention technologies.
Nart Villeneuve is the director of technical research at the Citizen Lab, an interdisciplinary laboratory
based at the Munk Centre for International Studies at the University of Toronto. As both a software
developer and academic, he is currently working with the OpenNet Initiative (ONI), documenting
Internet content filtering and surveillance practices worldwide. He has also been working on documen-
ting and evaluating existing circumvention technology as well as developing circumvention technolo-
gy. In addition to Internet censorship, his research interests include hacktivism, cyberterrorism and
Internet security. Nart Villeneuve is a recent graduate of the University of Toronto's Peace and Conflict
Studies program.
Acknowledgements
Michelle Levesque, Derek Bambauer and Bennett Haselton.
78 | REPORTERS WITHOUT BORDERS
CONFIDENTIALITY
ENSURING YOUR
E-MAIL IS TRULY PRIVATE
By Ludovic Pierrat
ost governments now have the means to spy on electronic messages. The
"cyberpolice" in repressive countries use it to spot and arrest political
opponents and many Internet users have been thrown in prison for sending
or even just forwarding an e-mail. A political dissident in the Maldives was given a 1 5-
year jail sentence in 2002 for corresponding by e-mail with Amnesty International. An
Internet user in Syria has been in prison since February 2003 for forwarding an e-mail
newsletter.
So here are some tips on how to ensure your e-mails remain private.
Using the e-mail account supplied by your Internet service provider (ISP), such as AOL,
Wanadoo or Free, or by a firm doesn't guarantee any e-mail confidentiality. The owners of
the networks your messages pass through can very easily intercept them. When the autho-
rities in any country want to investigate Internet users, they usually go through their ISP to
read their e-mail.
A "webmail" account (such as Yahoo! or Hotmail) is more secure because it doesn't use the
servers of a local ISP. To read webmail messages, you have to force your way in or intercept
messages as they're being transmitted, which is technically more difficult. Unfortunately this
protection is only relative, since police experts or hackers can easily look at your webmail.
Encryption (writing protected by a code) is the main way to really ensure the privacy of your
messages. There are two kinds.
CLASSIC ENCRYPTION
Ann and Michael want to exchange secret messages, so they agree on an encryption and
decryption code and a key. Then they exchange messages using them.
The snag with this method is that if a third person intercepts the messages in which Ann
and Michael exchange their key, that person can see it and use it, perhaps to send bogus
e-mails to Ann and Michael. So Ann and Michael have to exchange their key when
nobody else can see it, by meeting in person, for example.
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ENSURING YOUR E-MAIL IS TRULY PRIVATE
ASSYMETRIC ENCRYPTION
The best way to fix the problem is to use "asymmetric" encryption. Two keys are needed
for this, one to encrypt, the other to decrypt. Details of the encrypting key (the "public
key") can be exchanged without risk over the Internet because it can't be used to decrypt
messages. The decrypting key (the "secret key") must never be communicated.
With asymmetric encryption, Ann has her own pair of keys (a public key that she gives out
and a secret one that she keeps). Ann sends her key to Michael, who uses it to encrypt his
messages to her. Only Ann, with her secret key, can then decrypt Michael's messages.
Michael, with his own pair of keys, in turn sends his public key to Ann, who can then reply
to his messages in complete privacy.
But since the public key is exchanged over the Internet without special protection, it's best
to check its validity with its owner. Each key has a "fingerprint" (a short string of characters),
which it's easy to communicate in person or over the phone.
An unverified key may be a false one issued by a third person with evil intent, making the
encryption totally useless. The reliability of assymetric encryption depends entirely on
protecting the secret key and checking the public key of the other person.
OpenPGP (Open Pretty Good Privacy) is the standard asymmetric encryption. The most
popular software to create and use a pair of keys and manage the public keys of its corres-
pondents is GnuPG (GNU Privacy Guard), which can be used both with mail programmes
such as Thunderbird or Outlook, with webmail or with instant messaging.
Download GnuPG at : www.gnupg.org
Download special version for Windows at : www.winpt.org
Ludovic Pierrat is a computer engineer who runs Wa Company, an information technology consultan-
cy and production firm.
80 | REPORTERS WITHOUT BORDERS
CONTROLLING THE WEB
INTERNET-CENSOR WORLD
CHAMPIONSHIP
By Julien Pain
ost of the world's authoritarian regimes are trying to control what their
citizens read and do online. They're getter better and better at blocking
"objectionable" material, usually with technology bought from US firms.
China is far and away the world champion. But it's felt the heat of competition in recent
years. Each country in this far from complete list has its own style and tactics but
they all have one purpose, to keep ahead of the game.
CHINA, THE WORLD CHAMPION
China was one of the first repressive regimes to realise it couldn't do without the
Internet and so it had to be brought under control. It's one of the few countries that've
managed to block all material that criticises the regime while expanding Internet facilities.
What's the big secret? A clever mix of investment, technology and diplomacy.
Beijing has spent tens of millions of dollars on the most sophisticated Internet filtering
and surveillance equipment. The system is based on a constantly-updated blacklist of
websites. Access to "subversive" ones - a very broad notion that includes pornography,
political criticism and sites that are pro-Tibet or favour Taiwanese independence - is
then blocked at the level of the country's Internet "backbones" (major connection
nodes). But censorship doesn't stop there and the regime can automatically bar access
to sites in which "dubious" keywords, or combinations such as "tianamen" + "massa-
cre," are spotted.
The regime can also censor online discussion forums almost instantly. State-of-the-art
software and a cyber-police thought to number tens of thousands have enabled it to
gut online forums (very active in recent years) of virtually all political dissent. A call for
free elections, for example, has a maximum online life of about half an hour. The ministry
of industry and information has also zeroed in on blogs and done a deal with China-
based blog platforms to censor users. So a post about the Dalai Lama will appear online
full of automatically-inserted blank spaces in place of "illegal" words.
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INTERNET-CENSOR WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
But how did China get hold of such advanced and effective censorship equipment
when only a decade ago the country had no major Internet firms? With the help of big
US companies, led by Cisco. These firms, to get a slice of the enormous Chinese mar-
ket of already more than 1 00 million people online, have closed their eyes to how their
technology is being used. Some have probably worked directly with the regime to set
up filters and surveillance.
Beijing has even got the world's major search-engines to go on bended knee. Yahoo!
agreed a few years ago to remove all material offensive to the regime from its Chinese
version. For a long time, Google refused but now seems to be moving in the same
direction.
The country's police and courts also treat very harshly website editors who don't obey
the rules laid down by the governing Communist Party. 75 cyber-dissidents are
currently in prison for trying to post independent news online, some of them serving
sentences of more than 1 years.
So before you set up a blog in China, it's best to find out what the rules are. Bloggers
living in the country holding the world online censorship title have to be cautious and
crafty.
VIETNAM: A VERY TOUGH TEAM
Vietnam faithfully follows China's example, but though it's more ideologically rigid, it
doesn't have its neighbour's economic and technological capacity. It has a cyber-police
that filters "subversive" material out of websites and spies on cybercafes. But it cracks
down just as hard on cyber-dissidents and bloggers. Three have been in prison for
more than three years for daring online to speak up in favour of democracy.
TUNISIA: "MODEL" PLAYERS
President Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali, whose
family has a monopoly on Internet opera-
tions in Tunisia, has set up a very effective
system to censor online activity. Access to
all opposition websites is banned and users
also can't see quite a few news sites, such as
the French daily paper Liberation. The regi-
me also tries to dissuade people from using
webmail, which is harder to spy on than
standard e-mail systems such as Outlook
Express. Getting on to Yahoo! mail in a
Tunisian cybercafe can take 20 minutes,
often ending before then with a "timed out"
or "page not found" message. The
Reporters Without Borders website can't be
read from inside the country.
President Zine el-Abidine ben Ali
84 | REPORTERS WITHOUT BORDERS
INTERNET-CENSOR WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
Yet the international community seems to approve how Tunisia locally runs the
Internet, since the UN-affiliated International Telecommunication Union (ITU) has chosen
the country to host the November 2005 World Summit on the Information Society
(WSIS). The idea that Tunisia is a model of Internet development is a chilling one.
IRAN: A VICIOUS SQUAD
Online censorship isn't only done by communist regimes in Asia. Filtering systems in
Iran have greatly improved in recent years and the information ministry boasts that it
currently blocks access to hundreds of thousands of websites. The country's mullahs
especially target all content dealing in any way with sex but also they also don't tolerate
independent news sites.
The regime is capable of the worst censorship and also set a record in 2005 by thro-
wing nearly 20 bloggers in prison over the preceding 1 months. Three of them were
still there on 1 August 2005.
CUBA: THE "LEGEND"
The Cuban regime is well-known for its
phone tapping expertise but it's also very
good at censoring the Internet. The
Chinese model of encouraging online
activity while controlling it is too expensive,
so President Fidel Castro has plumped
for an easier way - simply keeping the
Internet out of reach of virtually all
Cubans. Internet access in Cuba is the
privilege of a tiny few who have to get
express permission from the ruling
Communist Party. Even when you do get
online, often illegally, you find a heavily-
censored version of the Internet.
Few people know that Cuba is one of the
least Internet-connected countries in the
world and that online material is as tightly
controlled as in the traditional media.
Why don't people know this? Perhaps
because of the still-powerful myth of the
Cuban revolution.
Fidel Castro
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INTERNET-CENSOR WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
SAUDI ARABIA: RECORD GOALS
The Saudi authorities openly admit they
censor the Internet. No "page not
found" like in China. When you try to go
to a banned site, you're told straight out
it's been blocked by the government's fil-
ters. The official Internet Service Unit
(ISU) is proud to tell you it's barred
access to nearly 400,000 sites and has
even posted a form online for users to
suggest new websites that could be
blocked. The ISU says it filters sites to
shield citizens from offensive material
violating Islamic principles and social
norms.
It's also interesting to note that a US firm,
Secure Computing, sold the regime its
online filtering system.
King Abdallah Ben Abdel Aziz al-Saud
UZBEKISTAN: DUMMY PASS EXPERTS
"There's no way to censor the Internet in this country," the Uzbek information
minister said in June 2005. An odd statement when all the country's opposition web-
sites can't be accessed and when online journalists are regularly threatened and
physically attacked.
Julien Pain is head of the Internet Freedom desk at Reporters Without Borders
86 | REPORTERS WITHOUT BORDERS
CREDITS
REPORTERS WITHOUT BORDERS
International Secretariat
5, rue Geoffroy-Marie, 75009 Paris, France
Tel.: 33 1 4483-8484
Fax: 33 1 4523-1151
Website : www.rsf.org
Editor: Sylvie Devilette / devilette@rsf.org
Communication: Anne Martinez-Saiz / communication@rsf.org
Graphic design and extra illustrations: C£?Nuit de Chine
ndc@nuitdechine.com
ISBN: 2-915536-36-8
Copyright: Reporters Without Borders 2005
Printed August 2005, France.
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